LESSONS FROM Toyota

Toyota has built a solid reputation as a world-class production and manufacturing organization through the application of quality principles referred to as “lean thinking.” At Toyota, lean thinking concepts have resulted in better quality, improved efficiency and reduced costs, and they have helped the automaker become a manufacturing model of excellence.

Toyota has standardized its production processes using carefully created documents and checklists to support and guide daily work. The company also relies on “built-in quality,” meaning that inspection occurs throughout the assembly process, not just at its end. This concept has fostered a greater sense of ownership and quality accountability among Toyota's workers.

Developed for use in the manufacturing setting, lean quality concepts have spread to service-based businesses and health care providers. Major health care organizations such as Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Virginia Mason Medical Center and the University of Michigan Health System have adopted lean approaches with impressive results: better outcomes, reduced waste and improved patient satisfaction.

In fact, in the endless quest for good process management, the principles of lean thinking can provide most companies with powerful tools and techniques for fundamental process improvement from beginning to end.

It's Time to Go Lean

The term “lean” refers to the concept of doing more with less — less human effort, less time, less equipment and less space — while consistently providing customers with exactly what they need. Lean thinking focuses on:

• Reducing waste;
• Designing processes based on the customer's requirements;
• Achieving standardized work;
• Reducing rework;
• Eliminating bottlenecks; and
• Reducing lead times, wait times, and process times.

Another major focus within a lean approach involves finding any problems as quickly as possible, identifying the root cause and correcting it so that the problem does not reoccur. The root cause emphasis is worthy of attention because it is not uncommon for managers or employees in any company to work on eliminating the symptoms of problems rather than attacking their true cause.