Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System
by Steven J. Spear, H. Kent Bowen
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Book Summary Information
Author: H. Kent Bowen, Steven J. SpearEdition: Digital
Format: Download: PDF
Published: 1999-09-01
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 13
Publisher: Harvard Business Review
Book Reviews of Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System
Book Review: A Seminal Work
Summary: 5 Stars
This article summarizes the research Steven Spear did on Toyota for his PhD dissertation at Harvard Business School.
While most previous research on the Toyota Production System looked at the physical systems and artifacts, Spear looked at Toyota through the eyes of an anthropologist. He was interested in how the social and cultural aspects of Toyota combined with the technical systems to create the phenomenal business results they are famous for.
What he found was consistent application of four tacit, undocumented "rules-in-use" guided the design and execution of every process he observed.
He also researched other companies that were trying to emulate the Toyota Production System, and found that while they were implementing the physical aspects of the system, they were not applying the rules-in-use he observed at Toyota.
Understanding these rules, and especially their effect on the organization's framework for thinking, will take the reader up a level from the "implement the tools of lean manufacturing" approach that so commonly stalls and fails today.
I have given it 5 stars because I consider it mandatory reading. However, it is not necessarily an easy read. There was a lot of information to compress into a very few pages. (The original dissertation is 465 pages.) This article is best digested slowly. Read it, apply understanding as you have it, gain some experience, read it again. Upon the second reading you will "get" things that you glossed over the first time. Then do it again. The more practice you have with applying the concepts, the more depth emerges from this research.
Note: Spear will be publishing a book, currently titled "Chasing the Rabbit: How Market Leaders Outdistance the Competition and How Great Companies Can Catch Up and Win in the fall of 2008. Based on his other work, and meeting him and hearing about the research and conclusions presented in the book, I expect it to be very good.
Summary of Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System
The Toyota Production System is a paradox. On the one hand, every activity, connection, and production flow in a Toyota factory is rigidly scripted. Yet at the same time, Toyota's operations are enormously flexible and responsive to customer demand. How can that be? After an extensive four-year study of the system in more than 40 plants, the authors came to understand that at Toyota it's the very rigidity of the operations that makes the flexibility possible. That's because the company's operations can be seen as a continuous series of controlled experiments. Whenever Toyota defines a specification, it is establishing a hypothesis that is then tested through action. This approach--the scientific method--is not imposed on workers, it's ingrained in them. And it stimulates them to engage in the kind of experimentation that is widely recognized as the cornerstone of a learning organization. The Toyota Production System grew out of the workings of the company over 50 years, and it has never actually been written down. Making the implicit explicit, the authors lay out four principles that show how Toyota sets up all its operations as experiments and teaches the scientific method to its workers. The first rule governs the way workers do their work. The second, the way they interact with one another. The third governs how production lines are constructed. And the last, how people learn to improve. Every activity, connection, and production path designed according to these rules must have built-in tests that signal problems immediately. And it is the continual response to those problems that makes this seemingly rigid system so flexible and adaptive to changing circumstances.The Toyota Production System is a paradox. On the one hand, every activity, connection, and production flow in a Toyota factory is rigidly scripted. Yet at the same time, Toyota's operations are enormously flexible and responsive to customer demand. How can that be? After an extensive four-year study of the system in more than 40 plants, the authors came to understand that at Toyota it's the very rigidity of the operations that makes the flexibility possible. That's because the company's operations can be seen as a continuous series of controlled experiments. Whenever Toyota defines a specification, it is establishing a hypothesis that is then tested through action. This approach--the scientific method--is not imposed on workers, it's ingrained in them. And it stimulates them to engage in the kind of experimentation that is widely recognized as the cornerstone of a learning organization. The Toyota Production System grew out of the workings of the company over 50 years, and it has never actually been written down. Making the implicit explicit, the authors lay out four principles that show how Toyota sets up all its operations as experiments and teaches the scientific method to its workers. The first rule governs the way workers do their work. The second, the way they interact with one another. The third governs how production lines are constructed. And the last, how people learn to improve. Every activity, connection, and production path designed according to these rules must have built-in tests that signal problems immediately. And it is the continual response to those problems that makes this seemingly rigid system so flexible and adaptive to changing circumstances.
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