Toyota Production System

Taiichi Ohno's account of the Toyota Production System — the just-in-time manufacturing system that transformed global industrial practice and became the foundation of lean manufacturing.

Just-in-time: produce only what is needed, when it is needed, in the amount needed — eliminating inventory waste. Jidoka (autonomation): machines that stop automatically when defects occur — embedding quality into the production process rather than inspecting it afterward. The seven wastes (muda): overproduction, waiting, transportation, overprocessing, inventory, motion, defects. Kanban: a visual system for managing production flow. The intellectual foundation of lean manufacturing.