The Toyota Way by Jeffrey K. Liker

Author:Jeffrey K. Liker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
Published: 2021-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Of course, it is difficult to imagine this training happening in a US factory. Most young engineers would be irate if you told them to draw a circle and stand for 30 minutes, let alone all day, and then explained nothing. But Minoura understood this was an important lesson as well as an honor to be taught in this way by the master of TPS. What exactly was Ohno teaching? The first step of genchi genbutsu, which is the power of deep observation. He was teaching Minoura to “think for himself” about what he was seeing, hearing, smelling—that is, to question, analyze, and evaluate what he learned through his senses.

I learned a lot about genchi genbutsu from Tahashi (George) Yamashina, former president of the Toyota Technical Center (TTC):

It is more than going and seeing. “What happened? What did you see? What are the issues? What are the problems?” Within the Toyota organization in North America we are still just going and seeing [as of 2001] “Okay I went and saw it and now I have a feeling.” But have you really analyzed it? Do you really understand what the issues are? At the root of all of that, we try to make decisions based on factual information, not based on theory. Statistics and numbers contribute to the facts, but it is more than that. Sometimes we get accused of spending too much time doing all the analysis of that. Some will say, “Common sense will tell you. I know what the problem is.” But collecting data and analysis will tell you if your common sense is right.

When Yamashina became president, he laid out his 10 management principles (see Figure 9.2), which include principles 3 and 4 that relate to genchi genbutsu:

3. “Think and speak based on verified, proven information and data:

Go and confirm the facts for yourself.

You are responsible for the information you are reporting to others.”

4. “Take full advantage of the wisdom and experiences of others to send, gather or discuss information.”

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