ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study of Toyoda Gosei to explain how the SMED System has actually been applied. The business environment surrounding the automobile industry showed solid expansion even, but from the time of the second oil crisis in 1979, limited customer demand compelled manufacturers to firm up their positions in global small car competition and to switch to a new emphasis on quality. In October 1978, Taiichi Ohno, the father of the Toyota Production System, was welcomed as Toyoda Gosei’s chairman of the board, and with his direct on-site leadership and the strong support of top company officials, the Toyota Production System was extended. The Man-hour Reduction Council inaugurated in 1969 at Toyota Motor Corporation had been urging that tooling setups be shortened, but the challenge of SMED was taken up in earnest only in 1972 when, under the leadership of Shigeo Shingo, a setup of less than nine minutes was achieved on a resin injection molding machine.
