ABSTRACT
Little has been published about Toyota’s information technology (IT) investment. This may be one of the reasons why many consultants who practice lean management or TPS are under the mistaken impression that Toyota does not need IT. In fact, Toyota has spent close to 10 billion dollars ($US) in IT since the start of this century. Although Toyota tends to be secretive about its investment plan, more information can be found in the Japanese press. From these sources, we learn that the investments are indeed sufficient for the implementation of lean production, and that a focused digital strategy can even improve the performances of lean systems. As with all other aspects of lean management, the goal of digital strategy in the TPS context must be implementation in compliance with lean principles:
• The first concern of digital implementation is the supply chain, from suppliers through to the customer;
• The second stage involves the production system; • The third step is employee training with focus on new products and new process
development.
