ABSTRACT

Much of what we call Lean today has been derived from studies of the Toyota Production System (TPS) and the tools and methodologies associated with it. Today there are as many as 70 tools, and their applications that have been described in books and articles over the past 30 years. Many ask, “Do we just copy Toyota?” The answer is, “Of course you do … if you are Toyota.” If not, and most are not Toyota, we need to go back to the principles of Lean, and understand the problems the tools were designed to solve and why Toyota developed the TPS.