Toyota Product Development System
GENE DOBBS BRADFORD
EMBA 30
BOOK REPORT: “The Toyota Product Development System”
Toyota’s innovation process in not the result of a few well-implemented initiatives, rather, it is a highly integrated system that constantly reinforces itself and is woven through the fabric of the entire organization. Many companies try to copy elements of Toyota’s Lean Product Development System (LPDS), but it is not that easy. All aspects of LPDS work together in harmony, and the process is reinforced by a culture that perpetuates it.
Toyota’s LPDS starts with the customer who is represented by the Chief Engineer. Toyota uses the Chief Engineer’s concept paper as a guiding tool to align thinking on the planning process. They very efficiently use the Obeya (big room) to bring together the members of divergent teams and allows them to function as a unit. The teams are structured so that all of the voices that need to be heard, from the designers to the managers of the factory, who can provide input on the impact decisions will have on the workers and the final produce, are there. One of the advantages to Toyota’s process is that it allows them to retain valuable employees. Their system of “Creating a Leveled Product Development Process Flow” means that workers will not be overworked and will be able to focus their full attention on the project at hand. When the project is finished, they are provided with new challenges to help them grow. The process of innovation is woven into the fabric of the organization. Toyota supplements its processes with a culture that is finely aligned with the process. They have also developed a number of tools to serve the process such as the already mentioned Obeya, a system of checklists which until recently were kept in three ring binders, Hansei, teardowns, A3 reports which summarize problems and help to ensure alignment. All of the processes at Toyota are highly standardized, and their culture ensures that the standardization
EMBA 30
BOOK REPORT: “The Toyota Product Development System”
Toyota’s innovation process in not the result of a few well-implemented initiatives, rather, it is a highly integrated system that constantly reinforces itself and is woven through the fabric of the entire organization. Many companies try to copy elements of Toyota’s Lean Product Development System (LPDS), but it is not that easy. All aspects of LPDS work together in harmony, and the process is reinforced by a culture that perpetuates it.
Toyota’s LPDS starts with the customer who is represented by the Chief Engineer. Toyota uses the Chief Engineer’s concept paper as a guiding tool to align thinking on the planning process. They very efficiently use the Obeya (big room) to bring together the members of divergent teams and allows them to function as a unit. The teams are structured so that all of the voices that need to be heard, from the designers to the managers of the factory, who can provide input on the impact decisions will have on the workers and the final produce, are there. One of the advantages to Toyota’s process is that it allows them to retain valuable employees. Their system of “Creating a Leveled Product Development Process Flow” means that workers will not be overworked and will be able to focus their full attention on the project at hand. When the project is finished, they are provided with new challenges to help them grow. The process of innovation is woven into the fabric of the organization. Toyota supplements its processes with a culture that is finely aligned with the process. They have also developed a number of tools to serve the process such as the already mentioned Obeya, a system of checklists which until recently were kept in three ring binders, Hansei, teardowns, A3 reports which summarize problems and help to ensure alignment. All of the processes at Toyota are highly standardized, and their culture ensures that the standardization