The Toyota Production System

Announcer: The Toyota production system is widely studied by business schools and manufacturing plants. But what exactly is the Toyota production system? And how do customers benefit? When manufacturing using the Toyota production system, Toyota only builds what is ordered. This ensures overhead costs are in check, and it provides stable pricing for the customer. Equipment orders are slotted into the production schedule based on the production forecast and slot availability. This ensures a level workflow through the factory, and is a process called heijunka.

Toyota holds many of its suppliers to the heijunka process as well, to maintain levelized material flow, and just in time component delivery. On the assembly line, parts and components are delivered directly to the associates. Toyota forklifts, tow tractors, and AGVs are used to deliver parts to the line, following the assembly sequence, which is dictated by the daily production schedule. The just in time principle is critical, because it allows associates to receive the right parts the moment they’re needed in the exact location they’re needed for the specific forklift they’re assembling at that time.

Assembly associates focus on standardization and specialization, which allows them to work on many different lines and produce many different products.

Scott Redelman: The Toyota production system guarantees product quality by making each person in every process in our facility a quality inspector. So, rather than having inspection at the final process to make sure the product is good and to our standards, we rely on each associate to be an inspector, so therefore, we have 900 inspectors on the shop floor that are trying to make sure that that good quality is built into the product.

Announcer: In order to continuously improve the production quality and safety in the supply chain, regular meetings are held on the shop floor, and the TPS culture requires a consistent presence of managers and other leaders in and around the assembly lines. To take consistent quality a step further, associates perform quality checks on every component they touch. Before sending their work down the line, they mark each component using a colored marker, and if you look closely at any Toyota forklift, you’ll see multiple marker dots on internal components. This indicates the component has passed through various quality checkpoints before reaching the customer.

When the forklift is completely assembled, it goes through a final inspection. 100% of Toyota products are tested and inspected in order to guarantee the highest level of quality for Toyota forklift customers. Should a customer have an issue with a Toyota forklift, the local dealer addresses the problem immediately with the customer, to ensure the forklift is up and running as quickly as possible. Then, the dealer files a warranty claim with the factory. The warranty claim process includes a thorough inspection of every faulty part after it has been sent back to the factory for analysis.

If the defect is confirmed, after the part has been analyzed, countermeasures are put in place at Toyota to ensure the same defect doesn’t happen in the future. After a countermeasure has been developed, it becomes standard, in order to reduce future warranty claims. Thanks to this process, and the Toyota production system, Toyota customers can be confident they’ll always receive a quality forklift.

The Toyota production system results in a decrease or total elimination of waste, unnecessary components, and pollution. For Toyota customers, the Toyota production system means shorter lead times, cost savings, and the highest quality material handling equipment in the industry.
To learn more about the Toyota production system, and how it can help you be more productive, visit toyotaforklift.com or contact your local Toyota forklift dealer.

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