Founder of Toyota Motor Corporation — who used the proceeds of his father Sakichi's loom patent to research and eventually produce automobiles, and who developed the just-in-time production concept.
Just-in-time as foundational innovation: Kiichiro's 'just-in-time' concept — producing only what is needed, when it is needed, in the quantity needed — was motivated by Japan's postwar capital scarcity (couldn't afford large inventories). The insight: inventory is waste, not insurance. When Toyota couldn't afford buffer inventory, it was forced to develop the pull-based production system where downstream processes signal upstream needs — the conceptual heart of the Toyota Production System. Combined with Ohno Taiichi's later systematization, it produced lean manufacturing.
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