Sakichi Toyoda

Japanese inventor who created the automatic power loom and founded Toyoda Loom Works — whose patent sale financed the founding of Toyota Motor Corporation by his son Kiichiro.

Three contributions: (1) The automatic power loom (1896, improved through multiple generations) — which stopped automatically when a thread broke, preventing defective cloth. This 'autonomation' (jidoka) concept — automation with human intelligence built in, stopping when abnormalities occur — became a pillar of the Toyota Production System. (2) The 5 Whys methodology: Toyoda's approach to root cause analysis (ask 'why?' five times until you find the root cause rather than the symptom) became a cornerstone of lean manufacturing. (3) His loom patent was sold to Platt Brothers (UK) for £100,000 — the capital that funded Kiichiro's automobile research.