ABSTRACT
The key to implementing the Toyota Production System is to understand and manage the expectations of the organization. People with a misunderstanding of the true essence of the system often find themselves focused on the tools and not on finding the best way. Since Toyota was under severe financial distress after the war, it was necessary to develop a system to increase production without expanding working capital. Toyota quickly understood that for the kanban system to operate effectively, it would become necessary to educate the various raw material and component manufacturers in the principles of the kanban system. The most remarkable part of the system was how the American supermarkets never seemed to run out of any one product. A team of American engineers using the most basic of tools in Toyota, known as the material and information flow map, or value stream analysis, identified the root cause of the problem.
