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The next exceptional person in the To line who's not in the family was Taiichiyono.
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And he turned Kichiro Tota's vision of just in time into reality.
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He didn't do it in one step.
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Like Ichi Toyota took many experiments, trial and error, starting with a cell, or we know as the U-shaped cell, Tai Chiyono did it in a machine shop with many different kinds of machines.
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And he learned through that process that to really get productivity at any level and be able to adjust to customer demand, he needed people to be very flexible.
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He wanted to run this cell of lots of different machines with one person or two people or six people, depending on demand.
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So people had to learn multiple jobs to run a lathe, to run a drill, and they didn't want to do it.
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So this started Ono's learning about how to influence and motivate people.
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And he realized to do that, he had to be on the shop floor with the people, watching them struggle, asking them questions, challenging them, and learning to be a coach.
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And that's the beginnings of the tenant production system.
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As he expanded from a cell to getting parts to the line, he eventually came up with a Kanban system.
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He later learned that in order to have a reliable cell, you needed standardized work and you needed a way to teach people, which was the job instruction training method.
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And then to connect that cell to other processes that were not next to the cell, he needed to hold a small amount of inventory and replenish, replenish it using a Kanban.
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So again, over time, over decades, pieces of the Tota production system, pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place.
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Finally, it was written down.
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And it was written down over the objections of Tai Chiono.
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Why would he care?
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Why would he object to a simple diagram?
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The reason was that from Ono's point of view, the Tota production system was a living, breathing, evolving entity.
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It was the ideas of people as they were at the gamba and they're discovering weaknesses, they're overcoming those weaknesses and they were learning.
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And he was afraid that as soon as you write it down, it becomes a static picture that Kaizan will end.
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So he, in fact, was known to see somebody writing some sort of image of the production system, and he would tear it up.
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He would say, if you write it down, you kill it.
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Don't write it down.
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But later in life, he apparently got a little more laid back and allowed people to write it down, and it got represented as a house because a house is a system.
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So if you take away the structures that hold up the roof, the roof will collapse.
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If the roof is weak, the roof will leak.
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If there's a poor foundation, the whole house will collapse.
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So every part of it is necessary for the system to function.
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And at the center of the system are people continuously improving using Kaizen.
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The two pillars you might recognize now as the two contributions of Sakichi Toyota and Kichro Toyota.
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Sakichi Toyota's judoka, which is translated today as stop and fix problems or surface problems and solve them.
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And then we have Kichro Toyota's just in time, the right part, right time, right amount, and doing this without inventory, without waste.
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So one piece flow, give the customer what they want, when they want it, which is really an impossible dream if you think about it.
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If you can imagine any type of service that you get on demand that works 100% of the time, uh you've got something better than anything I've seen.
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But the goal was not to implement just in time.
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The goal was for just in time to be a vision, an ideal, and for judoka to also be a vision, which would be zero defects.
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Everything that you do, you do perfectly.
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So this vision is what drives Kaizen.
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The Kaizen is driving for perfection.
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And therefore it never ends because you never reach perfection.
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Now, at the base of the house, this the foundation is operational stability.
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It's very disciplined people who follow standardized work.
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It's having well-maintained equipment, which again requires very disciplined people who are doing their preventative maintenance, who are learning from machine downtime to solve the problem.
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Uh, and they're constantly trying to work to achieve the standard.
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Standard keeps on getting tougher and tougher.
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So you can see the val the value and the why people are at the center, right?
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People have the discipline to maintain every aspect of the system from preventative maintenance to solving quality problems to solving problems of running law parts.
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Trucks break down, that's a problem.
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People have to solve that.
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If people stop thinking, if they simply execute what some expert, say a black belt, were to come up with, then the system would fail because conditions change and people would be unadaptable.
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For example, imagine a pilot having a plan before the plane takes off, and the pilot's instructed, no matter what happens, don't adjust the plan.
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You run into a storm, follow the plan.
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The plane's gonna go down.
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So people are at the center, and who is it that drives these people to push themselves?
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Very few people have the self-discipline to constantly push themselves to get better and better.
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And the driving force is leadership.
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Lean today has become a global movement.
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There's lean, six sigma, and unfortunately, what we see is a shadow of the Toyota Way or the Toyota production system.
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For example, we can walk into a factory or an office or a hospital and see posters, charts, five, we can see Kanban systems for replenishment.
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And in cultural terms, those would all be artifacts.
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It would be like finding a vase from the first century, and then trying to interpret what this vase means.
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If we go down to try to understand the meaning behind these artifacts and behaviors, we get norms and values, and the norms and values often are translated into follow the rules, meet the targets, have experts who have black belts who lead lean projects.
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This represents what we would call a bureaucracy, a rigid bureaucracy.
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And in fact, it's what Frederick Taylor was creating in his scientific management.
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In fact, he was very clear the only thinkers should be the industrial engineers.
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And the workers should be doing what the management tells them to do, and the management should be telling them to follow the principles of the industrial engineers.
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So in that system, with people not thinking, there can be no adaptation unless the industrial engineers come up with the ideas.
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And they're spread very thin, often across multiple factories.
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The underlying assumption that leads to this misinterpretation of the to production system is that the most important part of respect for people is respecting shareholders.
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They're the owners of the business, and they should expect quarterly returns, which means you have to drive stock prices.
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And you should justify any investment you make, including in people development, including in lien, through a clear ROI.
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If you don't get the ROI, you shouldn't do it.
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Which means you're going to cherry pick and pick only those projects that have a clear, direct cause and effect.
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Spend the money, I get results, I report them to the shareholders.
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This is very different from building up a strong capability and striving toward a vision of perfection.
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And now, what Tito would say is that if you strive for perfection, if you're constantly improving your products and services, keeping your customers satisfied, then the profits will follow.
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I mean, it's one on the one hand, you're satisfying customers, so you would get revenue.
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On the other hand, you're using the same kaizen methods to reduce costs, so you're reducing the cost side of the equation.
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And that will lead to profits.
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But if you jump ahead and just say, we will not do anything unless we make a profit, you'll never make the investments, you won't have satisfied customers, and eventually you'll run out of steam and the organization will go out of business.
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What are we really talking about by the production system?
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We think of TPS, we may immediately think of manufacturing and Kanban and tools and machines, but really that was never what TPS was about.
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In fact, one of the students of THUNO THUNE said, we made a mistake.
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We should never have called it the joy of production system.
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We should have called it the thinking production system.
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Because the real point of everything is to make people think.
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Even a simple Kanban, we have a Kanban in every container.
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And if I see that there's a container without a Kanban, I have to think.
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Well, how did a container move without a Kanban?
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If I have 10 bins of inventory, I take out one Kanban, and now I have nine bins of inventory in circulation.
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Now my processes are going to shut down more quickly if I have a problem.
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Again, that forces people to think.
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So really the essence of TPS is on the one hand, identify problems, on the other hand, identify and test solutions so you can learn and continuously improve.
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Okay, Tom, this is awesome.
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I love that video with Jeff talking about the thinking production system.
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Now I got a question for you.
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How does writing down TPS risk leaders, shifting leaders' thinking from coaching to policy compliance?
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You know, George, that's a great question.
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Um felt that TPS was a living, breathing, evolving entity.
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He was known to tear up written instructions and say, if you write it down, you kill it.
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Don't write it down.
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When TPS became a house diagram, it became teachable, but also dangerously simplified.
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Leaders could point to the pillars and say, install J JIT, install Judoka.
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The risk is subtle, right?
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Instead of asking what problems are trying to surface, leaders would start asking, are you following the standard?
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The moment we equate documentation with understanding, coaching turns into auditing, the house become the house becomes a checklist, and when that happens, Kaizen slows down because people stop experimenting, they wait for instructions.
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Ono feared that freezing the system in a diagram would freeze thinking itself.
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His thought, because a lot of people thought that, well, he just, you know, he didn't want to share the Toyota production system, and it wasn't that.
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Like I said here a minute ago, he just knew that if he put it on in paper, it would freeze thinking.
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So, George, if just in time and judoka are visions of perfection rather than implementation targets, how should a lean coach respond when executives demand quick ROI?
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Wow, what a tough question.
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So the coach has to reframe the conversation from tools to capability.
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Instead of talking about just in time as a cost-cutting initiative, it becomes a vision delivering exactly what the customer needs without waste, it becomes a driver of learning.
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So, what are you learning?
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What are you gonna do next?
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And then when executives push ROI, the coach must ask, are we building short-term financial gains or long-term organizational muscle?
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It's really uh uh who's the coach in this case?
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It's gotta be the person that knows what TPS is about and helps the owners guide you know towards increased capability versus short-term results.
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So today's philosophy suggests that the customer satisfaction, cost reduction, follow capability building, not the other way around.
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Uh so the coach's role is to protect the vision while speaking the language of business, which is tough to do.
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That tension is leadership work.
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So, Tom, what is the danger of defining respect for people as primarily respect for the shareholders?
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That's a really good question.
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Uh that definition shifts the entire moral center of our of the system, right?
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If shareholders become the primary stakeholder, then quarterly results dominate the decisions.
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Investments in people become optional, development becomes justified only if the measurable short-term returns are in.
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Um where in contrast, TPS places people at the center, not symbolically, but operationally.
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People are the engine of problem solving.
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If you prioritize shareholders over capability, you cherry pick projects, you stop taking risk and developing thinking, and over time, adaptability erodes.
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It's the difference between extracting value and creating value.
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George, how does operational stability quietly determine whether Kaizen thrives or becomes a theater?
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Oh wow.
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Uh good one.
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Operational stability, as we know, it's the foundation of the house.
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When you look at it, if you don't have a good foundation, everything falls apart.
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The machines break down constantly, standards aren't followed, Kaizen becomes reactive firefighting.
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There is no such thing as Kaizen.
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The discipline to maintain equipment, follow standardized work, and learn from downtime creates a stable baseline.
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Stability exposes abnormality.
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So you're looking for what is out of standard or what is abnormal.
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Uh, if leaders ignore this foundation, they compensate with slogans, events, posters.
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There's all these other things that come up.
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I used to call it it's the Christmas tree effect.
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You know, somebody comes into the plant, the Christmas tree, the lights go on, but it's empty.
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So that's when lean becomes theater.
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Uh, real Kaizen requires a stable stage.
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And I know there's a lot of people out there that like chaos.
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I've heard it even two days ago.
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Uh I kind of like the chaos, right?
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So this is a problem.
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We got to be thinking like farmers.
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We like stability, we like to increase our capability, and so you want managers to develop themselves to be farmers and they're just increasing capability.
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Forget the chaos.
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So, Tom, in this case, yeah, TPS is a real thinking production system.
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I love it because when I heard that and when I heard uh Jeff talk about that, what happened for me was I thought about how I implemented way back.
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It was never about the thinking, it was about let's do this and let's do that, let's do 5S, and it wasn't about what problem do we have and how do we quickly test uh possible solutions.
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Not solutions, but possible solutions, like we call them countermeasures.
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So, what specific leader behavior stimulate or suppress this kind of thinking on the shop floor?
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Oh.
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Well, you know, from what I see, stimulating thinking requires presence.
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Ono learned he had to be on the shop floor watching, asking questions, and challenging assumptions.
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Leaders stimulate thinking when they ask why.
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Why, why, why.
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Allow they allow control struggle, control struggle.
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They remove fear from of surfacing problems, right?
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Because everybody's afraid to say something.
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Get that fear out, model curiosity, they suppress thinking when they provide answers too quickly, reward compliance over insight, delegate improvement to experts, and punish mistakes harshly.
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And I think that is huge.
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Do not punish mistakes, they are opportunities to learn.
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If people stop thinking and simply execute, the system collapses under change.
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Thinking's not optional, it's the core design principle.
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Why did Ono start with flexible people in a cell rather than Kanban or standard work as is as the first move, George?
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Yeah, wow.
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I you know, in this case, he started off with people resisting.
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That's what they did.
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And he had to be out on the shop floor with them, building that relationship.
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But flexibility exposes the reality of the situation.
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When one person must run multiple machines depending on demand, waste becomes visible.
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That's the key.
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So imbalances become obvious, skill gaps surface.
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These are problems, and problems are treasures.
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So starting with tools like Kanban, this is a tool that will expose a problem.
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Whether the Kanban card goes missing, whether the inventory is too much or too low, whether the quantity is not the right amount.
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So uh Kanban would have an odd an automated existing dysfunction.
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Instead, he began with people learning multiple jobs that forced adaptation.
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It also required motivation and coaching.
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Flexibility was not about efficiency first, it was about learning capacity.
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Once people could flex, then standardized work and Kanban could connect processes reliably.
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Now, uh, so the the first move was human, not technical.
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The second move was the technical move, and we when we started this, it was technical first.
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We were just trying to do stuff, so that's where the big mistake was and the big interpretation.
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We always copied the Toyota production system, but we never copied uh uh blindly, by the way.
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We never copied the thinking production system, what was behind the name, yeah.
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So we want to be thinkers.
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So, what happens, Tom, when an organization's long-term capability, when lean is reduced to projects led by experts instead of daily kaizen by everybody, everybody improving everywhere, every day, uh versus you know, lean.
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Well, it becomes dependent.
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Uh one thing I'll I'll bring up real quick is you know, this is Frederick Taylor came up with some with this kind type of a view well over a hundred years ago, and he said that um workers are to do what the what the boss says and nothing more.
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Well, that thought process, as experts think, workers execute.
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Improvement slows down when that happens, adaptation becomes uh episode instead of continuous.
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It takes people ten times longer to improve.
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If we if we shortcut people development, we create fragile gains.
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Daily Kaizen builds internal capability, expert led projects build isolation, and the long term organizations that invest in thinking outlast those that invest in tools.
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You know, George.
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By saying that all of the great thinkers have emphasized this over and over.
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Demmings said it, right?
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Uh Toyota said it.
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You could just go down the list and what what do we still today lack?
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We lack training.
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We lack self-development.
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We lack people that could that people are afraid to say something.
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Anyway, George, after walking through all this, I'm realizing something.
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TPS was never primarily about efficiency, was it?
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No, no.
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Efficiency was the is the byproduct.
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The real focus is cultivating disciplined people, thinking people, and people that are using the Gemba as their teacher.
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That's the shift, isn't it?
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Most organizations chase efficiency because it's measurable.
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But TPS is chasing something different, its capability.
00:23:42.379 --> 00:23:43.420
Yeah, exactly.
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It's about developing people who can see problems, think critically, and continually improve.
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The tools only matter when they stimulate thinking.
00:23:56.700 --> 00:24:03.980
And that's why just in time and judoka are visions of perfection, not cost reduction tactics.
00:24:04.460 --> 00:24:05.099
Right.
00:24:05.659 --> 00:24:08.460
They're ideals that stretch people.
00:24:09.019 --> 00:24:18.859
Not because they guarantee quarterly returns, but because striving toward them like an ideal state builds enduring excellence.
00:24:19.659 --> 00:24:22.539
So the real competitive advantage isn't Kanban.
00:24:22.940 --> 00:24:24.539
It isn't standard work.
00:24:25.099 --> 00:24:27.180
It isn't even the house diagram.
00:24:27.420 --> 00:24:31.819
Yeah, it's disciplined people who pursue perfection together.
00:24:32.379 --> 00:24:36.139
Which means lean leadership isn't about installing systems.
00:24:36.460 --> 00:24:38.220
No, it's about developing people.
00:24:38.460 --> 00:24:39.339
People first.
00:24:40.220 --> 00:24:42.379
People who can evolve the system.
00:24:42.859 --> 00:24:43.339
Yeah.
00:24:43.579 --> 00:24:48.779
And who keep evolving long after the original leaders are gone.
00:24:48.859 --> 00:24:51.019
So this is succession planning.
00:24:51.259 --> 00:24:52.700
Yeah, great.
00:24:53.180 --> 00:24:59.019
So maybe TPS was always less a production system.
00:24:59.579 --> 00:25:04.700
Yeah, and more people development, which brings me to this story, Tom.
00:25:04.779 --> 00:25:11.740
I went to Liverpool, talked at a company, and there was another high-powered consultant there.
00:25:11.819 --> 00:25:15.819
He's probably what way more well known than I am.
00:25:16.059 --> 00:25:17.899
And it was all about systems.
00:25:18.059 --> 00:25:22.460
And I was thinking, you know, at the center of all this has to be people development.
00:25:22.700 --> 00:25:26.139
I never, I shared that with them, but they never got it.
00:25:26.299 --> 00:25:29.099
So I think with the language, it's important.
00:25:29.259 --> 00:25:35.019
If you want to communicate to a CEO, yeah, tell them I'm going to implement a system that's going to get you results.
00:25:35.259 --> 00:25:39.899
But if you want long-term results, start educating them on capability.
00:25:41.019 --> 00:25:44.539
Yeah, that might be the most important takeaway of them all.
00:25:45.099 --> 00:25:48.700
So you may want to develop a skill from all this information.
00:25:49.500 --> 00:25:52.700
One skill to develop over the next two weeks.
00:25:53.819 --> 00:25:56.059
For everybody that's watching.
00:25:56.940 --> 00:25:59.339
Asking better why questions.
00:25:59.899 --> 00:26:17.019
If TPS is fundamentally about developing thinking people, then one practical skill the audience can take away and build on immediately is the discipline practice of asking thoughtful layered why questions.
00:26:17.500 --> 00:26:23.740
Not rapid-fire interrogation, not blame seeking, but structured curiosity.
00:26:25.019 --> 00:26:26.220
Yeah, thank you, Tom.
00:26:26.379 --> 00:26:27.259
That's really good.
00:26:27.500 --> 00:26:36.379
And if you want to know how to do this structured, layered why questions, look up the Socratic method.
00:26:36.619 --> 00:26:44.220
Figure out how to fold a question into itself and dig a little deeper on that topic, and you'll get it right.
00:26:44.379 --> 00:26:45.899
So develop that skill.
00:26:46.059 --> 00:26:47.659
We'll see you guys next time.
00:26:47.980 --> 00:26:48.700
Thank you.
00:26:49.180 --> 00:26:50.059
Thank you, Tom.
00:00:32.859 --> 00:00:39.820
The next exceptional person in the To line who's not in the family was Taiichiyono.
00:00:40.140 --> 00:00:44.780
And he turned Kichiro Tota's vision of just in time into reality.
00:00:44.939 --> 00:00:46.539
He didn't do it in one step.
00:00:46.780 --> 00:01:04.060
Like Ichi Toyota took many experiments, trial and error, starting with a cell, or we know as the U-shaped cell, Tai Chiyono did it in a machine shop with many different kinds of machines.
00:01:04.460 --> 00:01:15.500
And he learned through that process that to really get productivity at any level and be able to adjust to customer demand, he needed people to be very flexible.
00:01:15.819 --> 00:01:23.659
He wanted to run this cell of lots of different machines with one person or two people or six people, depending on demand.
00:01:23.900 --> 00:01:29.979
So people had to learn multiple jobs to run a lathe, to run a drill, and they didn't want to do it.
00:01:30.460 --> 00:01:36.939
So this started Ono's learning about how to influence and motivate people.
00:01:37.180 --> 00:01:48.859
And he realized to do that, he had to be on the shop floor with the people, watching them struggle, asking them questions, challenging them, and learning to be a coach.
00:01:49.740 --> 00:01:53.180
And that's the beginnings of the tenant production system.
00:01:53.340 --> 00:02:00.460
As he expanded from a cell to getting parts to the line, he eventually came up with a Kanban system.
00:02:00.780 --> 00:02:11.580
He later learned that in order to have a reliable cell, you needed standardized work and you needed a way to teach people, which was the job instruction training method.
00:02:11.819 --> 00:02:23.819
And then to connect that cell to other processes that were not next to the cell, he needed to hold a small amount of inventory and replenish, replenish it using a Kanban.
00:02:24.060 --> 00:02:31.020
So again, over time, over decades, pieces of the Tota production system, pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place.
00:02:31.340 --> 00:02:32.620
Finally, it was written down.
00:02:32.699 --> 00:02:37.500
And it was written down over the objections of Tai Chiono.
00:02:37.740 --> 00:02:38.460
Why would he care?
00:02:38.620 --> 00:02:42.299
Why would he object to a simple diagram?
00:02:42.620 --> 00:02:51.659
The reason was that from Ono's point of view, the Tota production system was a living, breathing, evolving entity.
00:02:52.060 --> 00:03:00.620
It was the ideas of people as they were at the gamba and they're discovering weaknesses, they're overcoming those weaknesses and they were learning.
00:03:00.780 --> 00:03:07.659
And he was afraid that as soon as you write it down, it becomes a static picture that Kaizan will end.
00:03:08.379 --> 00:03:16.620
So he, in fact, was known to see somebody writing some sort of image of the production system, and he would tear it up.
00:03:16.859 --> 00:03:19.579
He would say, if you write it down, you kill it.
00:03:20.379 --> 00:03:21.579
Don't write it down.
00:03:21.739 --> 00:03:33.019
But later in life, he apparently got a little more laid back and allowed people to write it down, and it got represented as a house because a house is a system.
00:03:33.259 --> 00:03:39.019
So if you take away the structures that hold up the roof, the roof will collapse.
00:03:39.179 --> 00:03:41.500
If the roof is weak, the roof will leak.
00:03:41.659 --> 00:03:44.459
If there's a poor foundation, the whole house will collapse.
00:03:44.620 --> 00:03:48.780
So every part of it is necessary for the system to function.
00:03:48.939 --> 00:03:54.379
And at the center of the system are people continuously improving using Kaizen.
00:03:55.179 --> 00:04:02.539
The two pillars you might recognize now as the two contributions of Sakichi Toyota and Kichro Toyota.
00:04:02.780 --> 00:04:12.379
Sakichi Toyota's judoka, which is translated today as stop and fix problems or surface problems and solve them.
00:04:12.939 --> 00:04:22.139
And then we have Kichro Toyota's just in time, the right part, right time, right amount, and doing this without inventory, without waste.
00:04:22.220 --> 00:04:30.459
So one piece flow, give the customer what they want, when they want it, which is really an impossible dream if you think about it.
00:04:30.620 --> 00:04:41.660
If you can imagine any type of service that you get on demand that works 100% of the time, uh you've got something better than anything I've seen.
00:04:41.980 --> 00:04:47.420
But the goal was not to implement just in time.
00:04:47.740 --> 00:04:56.620
The goal was for just in time to be a vision, an ideal, and for judoka to also be a vision, which would be zero defects.
00:04:56.860 --> 00:04:59.660
Everything that you do, you do perfectly.
00:04:59.980 --> 00:05:04.460
So this vision is what drives Kaizen.
00:05:05.100 --> 00:05:09.100
The Kaizen is driving for perfection.
00:05:09.500 --> 00:05:13.980
And therefore it never ends because you never reach perfection.
00:05:14.140 --> 00:05:19.660
Now, at the base of the house, this the foundation is operational stability.
00:05:19.740 --> 00:05:22.939
It's very disciplined people who follow standardized work.
00:05:23.180 --> 00:05:32.939
It's having well-maintained equipment, which again requires very disciplined people who are doing their preventative maintenance, who are learning from machine downtime to solve the problem.
00:05:33.260 --> 00:05:37.340
Uh, and they're constantly trying to work to achieve the standard.
00:05:37.660 --> 00:05:40.140
Standard keeps on getting tougher and tougher.
00:05:40.379 --> 00:05:46.060
So you can see the val the value and the why people are at the center, right?
00:05:46.379 --> 00:05:57.980
People have the discipline to maintain every aspect of the system from preventative maintenance to solving quality problems to solving problems of running law parts.
00:05:58.300 --> 00:06:00.220
Trucks break down, that's a problem.
00:06:00.379 --> 00:06:01.740
People have to solve that.
00:06:01.980 --> 00:06:16.460
If people stop thinking, if they simply execute what some expert, say a black belt, were to come up with, then the system would fail because conditions change and people would be unadaptable.
00:06:16.780 --> 00:06:26.700
For example, imagine a pilot having a plan before the plane takes off, and the pilot's instructed, no matter what happens, don't adjust the plan.
00:06:27.580 --> 00:06:29.580
You run into a storm, follow the plan.
00:06:29.740 --> 00:06:31.100
The plane's gonna go down.
00:06:31.420 --> 00:06:37.900
So people are at the center, and who is it that drives these people to push themselves?
00:06:38.220 --> 00:06:43.500
Very few people have the self-discipline to constantly push themselves to get better and better.
00:06:43.660 --> 00:06:45.500
And the driving force is leadership.
00:06:45.740 --> 00:06:48.540
Lean today has become a global movement.
00:06:48.620 --> 00:06:55.819
There's lean, six sigma, and unfortunately, what we see is a shadow of the Toyota Way or the Toyota production system.
00:06:55.980 --> 00:07:07.340
For example, we can walk into a factory or an office or a hospital and see posters, charts, five, we can see Kanban systems for replenishment.
00:07:07.740 --> 00:07:11.900
And in cultural terms, those would all be artifacts.
00:07:12.060 --> 00:07:21.819
It would be like finding a vase from the first century, and then trying to interpret what this vase means.
00:07:22.220 --> 00:07:41.500
If we go down to try to understand the meaning behind these artifacts and behaviors, we get norms and values, and the norms and values often are translated into follow the rules, meet the targets, have experts who have black belts who lead lean projects.
00:07:42.300 --> 00:07:47.180
This represents what we would call a bureaucracy, a rigid bureaucracy.
00:07:47.340 --> 00:07:52.860
And in fact, it's what Frederick Taylor was creating in his scientific management.
00:07:53.020 --> 00:07:58.060
In fact, he was very clear the only thinkers should be the industrial engineers.
00:07:58.860 --> 00:08:08.620
And the workers should be doing what the management tells them to do, and the management should be telling them to follow the principles of the industrial engineers.
00:08:08.860 --> 00:08:16.379
So in that system, with people not thinking, there can be no adaptation unless the industrial engineers come up with the ideas.
00:08:16.460 --> 00:08:20.860
And they're spread very thin, often across multiple factories.
00:08:21.180 --> 00:08:35.740
The underlying assumption that leads to this misinterpretation of the to production system is that the most important part of respect for people is respecting shareholders.
00:08:35.819 --> 00:08:42.220
They're the owners of the business, and they should expect quarterly returns, which means you have to drive stock prices.
00:08:43.019 --> 00:08:50.779
And you should justify any investment you make, including in people development, including in lien, through a clear ROI.
00:08:50.860 --> 00:08:53.419
If you don't get the ROI, you shouldn't do it.
00:08:53.659 --> 00:09:00.939
Which means you're going to cherry pick and pick only those projects that have a clear, direct cause and effect.
00:09:01.259 --> 00:09:05.339
Spend the money, I get results, I report them to the shareholders.
00:09:05.579 --> 00:09:13.500
This is very different from building up a strong capability and striving toward a vision of perfection.
00:09:13.659 --> 00:09:26.299
And now, what Tito would say is that if you strive for perfection, if you're constantly improving your products and services, keeping your customers satisfied, then the profits will follow.
00:09:26.459 --> 00:09:30.699
I mean, it's one on the one hand, you're satisfying customers, so you would get revenue.
00:09:30.939 --> 00:09:37.019
On the other hand, you're using the same kaizen methods to reduce costs, so you're reducing the cost side of the equation.
00:09:37.259 --> 00:09:39.419
And that will lead to profits.
00:09:39.740 --> 00:09:52.939
But if you jump ahead and just say, we will not do anything unless we make a profit, you'll never make the investments, you won't have satisfied customers, and eventually you'll run out of steam and the organization will go out of business.
00:09:53.500 --> 00:09:56.620
What are we really talking about by the production system?
00:09:57.179 --> 00:10:09.259
We think of TPS, we may immediately think of manufacturing and Kanban and tools and machines, but really that was never what TPS was about.
00:10:09.500 --> 00:10:14.699
In fact, one of the students of THUNO THUNE said, we made a mistake.
00:10:14.939 --> 00:10:17.819
We should never have called it the joy of production system.
00:10:17.980 --> 00:10:20.620
We should have called it the thinking production system.
00:10:20.779 --> 00:10:23.819
Because the real point of everything is to make people think.
00:10:24.059 --> 00:10:28.539
Even a simple Kanban, we have a Kanban in every container.
00:10:29.019 --> 00:10:33.019
And if I see that there's a container without a Kanban, I have to think.
00:10:33.259 --> 00:10:35.819
Well, how did a container move without a Kanban?
00:10:36.539 --> 00:10:45.339
If I have 10 bins of inventory, I take out one Kanban, and now I have nine bins of inventory in circulation.
00:10:45.500 --> 00:10:49.339
Now my processes are going to shut down more quickly if I have a problem.
00:10:49.500 --> 00:10:51.500
Again, that forces people to think.
00:10:51.659 --> 00:11:04.219
So really the essence of TPS is on the one hand, identify problems, on the other hand, identify and test solutions so you can learn and continuously improve.
00:11:04.539 --> 00:11:06.539
Okay, Tom, this is awesome.
00:11:06.699 --> 00:11:11.259
I love that video with Jeff talking about the thinking production system.
00:11:11.419 --> 00:11:12.860
Now I got a question for you.
00:11:13.099 --> 00:11:24.139
How does writing down TPS risk leaders, shifting leaders' thinking from coaching to policy compliance?
00:11:25.099 --> 00:11:27.500
You know, George, that's a great question.
00:11:27.740 --> 00:11:34.459
Um felt that TPS was a living, breathing, evolving entity.
00:11:35.500 --> 00:11:41.339
He was known to tear up written instructions and say, if you write it down, you kill it.
00:11:41.500 --> 00:11:42.860
Don't write it down.
00:11:43.339 --> 00:11:50.939
When TPS became a house diagram, it became teachable, but also dangerously simplified.
00:11:52.379 --> 00:11:57.980
Leaders could point to the pillars and say, install J JIT, install Judoka.
00:11:58.779 --> 00:12:01.419
The risk is subtle, right?
00:12:01.579 --> 00:12:09.659
Instead of asking what problems are trying to surface, leaders would start asking, are you following the standard?
00:12:11.259 --> 00:12:27.659
The moment we equate documentation with understanding, coaching turns into auditing, the house become the house becomes a checklist, and when that happens, Kaizen slows down because people stop experimenting, they wait for instructions.
00:12:27.899 --> 00:12:34.379
Ono feared that freezing the system in a diagram would freeze thinking itself.
00:12:34.620 --> 00:12:43.099
His thought, because a lot of people thought that, well, he just, you know, he didn't want to share the Toyota production system, and it wasn't that.
00:12:43.899 --> 00:12:52.059
Like I said here a minute ago, he just knew that if he put it on in paper, it would freeze thinking.
00:12:52.620 --> 00:13:05.899
So, George, if just in time and judoka are visions of perfection rather than implementation targets, how should a lean coach respond when executives demand quick ROI?
00:13:06.299 --> 00:13:08.860
Wow, what a tough question.
00:13:09.099 --> 00:13:14.779
So the coach has to reframe the conversation from tools to capability.
00:13:14.939 --> 00:13:27.019
Instead of talking about just in time as a cost-cutting initiative, it becomes a vision delivering exactly what the customer needs without waste, it becomes a driver of learning.
00:13:27.099 --> 00:13:28.299
So, what are you learning?
00:13:28.459 --> 00:13:29.899
What are you gonna do next?
00:13:30.059 --> 00:13:39.740
And then when executives push ROI, the coach must ask, are we building short-term financial gains or long-term organizational muscle?
00:13:39.899 --> 00:13:42.939
It's really uh uh who's the coach in this case?
00:13:43.019 --> 00:13:53.980
It's gotta be the person that knows what TPS is about and helps the owners guide you know towards increased capability versus short-term results.
00:13:54.139 --> 00:14:03.500
So today's philosophy suggests that the customer satisfaction, cost reduction, follow capability building, not the other way around.
00:14:04.059 --> 00:14:12.860
Uh so the coach's role is to protect the vision while speaking the language of business, which is tough to do.
00:14:13.019 --> 00:14:15.500
That tension is leadership work.
00:14:15.980 --> 00:14:24.379
So, Tom, what is the danger of defining respect for people as primarily respect for the shareholders?
00:14:24.699 --> 00:14:26.620
That's a really good question.
00:14:26.860 --> 00:14:33.179
Uh that definition shifts the entire moral center of our of the system, right?
00:14:33.579 --> 00:14:40.620
If shareholders become the primary stakeholder, then quarterly results dominate the decisions.
00:14:40.939 --> 00:14:50.139
Investments in people become optional, development becomes justified only if the measurable short-term returns are in.
00:14:51.179 --> 00:14:58.939
Um where in contrast, TPS places people at the center, not symbolically, but operationally.
00:14:59.819 --> 00:15:02.459
People are the engine of problem solving.
00:15:03.259 --> 00:15:16.139
If you prioritize shareholders over capability, you cherry pick projects, you stop taking risk and developing thinking, and over time, adaptability erodes.
00:15:16.379 --> 00:15:21.179
It's the difference between extracting value and creating value.
00:15:22.299 --> 00:15:31.500
George, how does operational stability quietly determine whether Kaizen thrives or becomes a theater?
00:15:31.980 --> 00:15:32.939
Oh wow.
00:15:33.099 --> 00:15:34.139
Uh good one.
00:15:34.379 --> 00:15:39.339
Operational stability, as we know, it's the foundation of the house.
00:15:39.659 --> 00:15:45.019
When you look at it, if you don't have a good foundation, everything falls apart.
00:15:45.179 --> 00:15:51.740
The machines break down constantly, standards aren't followed, Kaizen becomes reactive firefighting.
00:15:51.980 --> 00:15:53.579
There is no such thing as Kaizen.
00:15:53.980 --> 00:16:03.899
The discipline to maintain equipment, follow standardized work, and learn from downtime creates a stable baseline.
00:16:04.299 --> 00:16:07.579
Stability exposes abnormality.
00:16:07.659 --> 00:16:12.539
So you're looking for what is out of standard or what is abnormal.
00:16:12.620 --> 00:16:19.099
Uh, if leaders ignore this foundation, they compensate with slogans, events, posters.
00:16:19.259 --> 00:16:21.019
There's all these other things that come up.
00:16:21.259 --> 00:16:23.980
I used to call it it's the Christmas tree effect.
00:16:24.219 --> 00:16:29.899
You know, somebody comes into the plant, the Christmas tree, the lights go on, but it's empty.
00:16:30.139 --> 00:16:32.699
So that's when lean becomes theater.
00:16:32.939 --> 00:16:36.939
Uh, real Kaizen requires a stable stage.
00:16:37.019 --> 00:16:40.860
And I know there's a lot of people out there that like chaos.
00:16:40.939 --> 00:16:43.019
I've heard it even two days ago.
00:16:43.179 --> 00:16:45.819
Uh I kind of like the chaos, right?
00:16:45.980 --> 00:16:47.179
So this is a problem.
00:16:47.339 --> 00:16:49.339
We got to be thinking like farmers.
00:16:49.500 --> 00:17:01.740
We like stability, we like to increase our capability, and so you want managers to develop themselves to be farmers and they're just increasing capability.
00:17:01.899 --> 00:17:03.099
Forget the chaos.
00:17:03.419 --> 00:17:09.500
So, Tom, in this case, yeah, TPS is a real thinking production system.
00:17:09.740 --> 00:17:21.019
I love it because when I heard that and when I heard uh Jeff talk about that, what happened for me was I thought about how I implemented way back.
00:17:21.420 --> 00:17:37.579
It was never about the thinking, it was about let's do this and let's do that, let's do 5S, and it wasn't about what problem do we have and how do we quickly test uh possible solutions.
00:17:37.740 --> 00:17:41.980
Not solutions, but possible solutions, like we call them countermeasures.
00:17:42.220 --> 00:17:50.299
So, what specific leader behavior stimulate or suppress this kind of thinking on the shop floor?
00:17:50.940 --> 00:17:51.180
Oh.
00:17:51.740 --> 00:17:55.740
Well, you know, from what I see, stimulating thinking requires presence.
00:17:56.220 --> 00:18:03.180
Ono learned he had to be on the shop floor watching, asking questions, and challenging assumptions.
00:18:03.740 --> 00:18:07.180
Leaders stimulate thinking when they ask why.
00:18:07.740 --> 00:18:09.259
Why, why, why.
00:18:10.539 --> 00:18:15.339
Allow they allow control struggle, control struggle.
00:18:16.460 --> 00:18:19.899
They remove fear from of surfacing problems, right?
00:18:20.139 --> 00:18:22.859
Because everybody's afraid to say something.
00:18:23.180 --> 00:18:39.740
Get that fear out, model curiosity, they suppress thinking when they provide answers too quickly, reward compliance over insight, delegate improvement to experts, and punish mistakes harshly.
00:18:39.819 --> 00:18:41.740
And I think that is huge.
00:18:42.220 --> 00:18:47.259
Do not punish mistakes, they are opportunities to learn.
00:18:47.659 --> 00:18:55.980
If people stop thinking and simply execute, the system collapses under change.
00:18:56.220 --> 00:19:01.420
Thinking's not optional, it's the core design principle.
00:19:02.379 --> 00:19:11.740
Why did Ono start with flexible people in a cell rather than Kanban or standard work as is as the first move, George?
00:19:12.059 --> 00:19:13.099
Yeah, wow.
00:19:13.259 --> 00:19:17.420
I you know, in this case, he started off with people resisting.
00:19:17.579 --> 00:19:18.700
That's what they did.
00:19:18.859 --> 00:19:23.819
And he had to be out on the shop floor with them, building that relationship.
00:19:24.139 --> 00:19:28.940
But flexibility exposes the reality of the situation.
00:19:29.099 --> 00:19:36.220
When one person must run multiple machines depending on demand, waste becomes visible.
00:19:36.379 --> 00:19:37.579
That's the key.
00:19:37.819 --> 00:19:42.379
So imbalances become obvious, skill gaps surface.
00:19:42.619 --> 00:19:45.339
These are problems, and problems are treasures.
00:19:45.500 --> 00:19:52.619
So starting with tools like Kanban, this is a tool that will expose a problem.
00:19:52.859 --> 00:20:00.139
Whether the Kanban card goes missing, whether the inventory is too much or too low, whether the quantity is not the right amount.
00:20:00.379 --> 00:20:05.980
So uh Kanban would have an odd an automated existing dysfunction.
00:20:06.299 --> 00:20:13.019
Instead, he began with people learning multiple jobs that forced adaptation.
00:20:13.259 --> 00:20:16.700
It also required motivation and coaching.
00:20:17.019 --> 00:20:23.500
Flexibility was not about efficiency first, it was about learning capacity.
00:20:23.659 --> 00:20:31.339
Once people could flex, then standardized work and Kanban could connect processes reliably.
00:20:31.579 --> 00:20:37.019
Now, uh, so the the first move was human, not technical.
00:20:37.259 --> 00:20:43.180
The second move was the technical move, and we when we started this, it was technical first.
00:20:43.339 --> 00:20:49.019
We were just trying to do stuff, so that's where the big mistake was and the big interpretation.
00:20:49.339 --> 00:20:56.539
We always copied the Toyota production system, but we never copied uh uh blindly, by the way.
00:20:56.700 --> 00:21:02.379
We never copied the thinking production system, what was behind the name, yeah.
00:21:02.619 --> 00:21:04.220
So we want to be thinkers.
00:21:04.379 --> 00:21:25.579
So, what happens, Tom, when an organization's long-term capability, when lean is reduced to projects led by experts instead of daily kaizen by everybody, everybody improving everywhere, every day, uh versus you know, lean.
00:21:27.180 --> 00:21:29.339
Well, it becomes dependent.
00:21:29.899 --> 00:21:47.420
Uh one thing I'll I'll bring up real quick is you know, this is Frederick Taylor came up with some with this kind type of a view well over a hundred years ago, and he said that um workers are to do what the what the boss says and nothing more.
00:21:49.099 --> 00:21:54.700
Well, that thought process, as experts think, workers execute.
00:21:55.420 --> 00:22:03.659
Improvement slows down when that happens, adaptation becomes uh episode instead of continuous.
00:22:04.619 --> 00:22:08.379
It takes people ten times longer to improve.
00:22:08.619 --> 00:22:14.460
If we if we shortcut people development, we create fragile gains.
00:22:15.740 --> 00:22:31.019
Daily Kaizen builds internal capability, expert led projects build isolation, and the long term organizations that invest in thinking outlast those that invest in tools.
00:22:31.259 --> 00:22:32.299
You know, George.
00:22:33.099 --> 00:22:40.539
By saying that all of the great thinkers have emphasized this over and over.
00:22:40.779 --> 00:22:42.460
Demmings said it, right?
00:22:42.619 --> 00:22:45.099
Uh Toyota said it.
00:22:45.500 --> 00:22:53.740
You could just go down the list and what what do we still today lack?
00:22:54.299 --> 00:22:55.899
We lack training.
00:22:56.139 --> 00:22:58.379
We lack self-development.
00:22:59.099 --> 00:23:04.619
We lack people that could that people are afraid to say something.
00:23:05.500 --> 00:23:11.180
Anyway, George, after walking through all this, I'm realizing something.
00:23:11.579 --> 00:23:16.059
TPS was never primarily about efficiency, was it?
00:23:16.379 --> 00:23:17.339
No, no.
00:23:17.659 --> 00:23:20.539
Efficiency was the is the byproduct.
00:23:20.700 --> 00:23:31.740
The real focus is cultivating disciplined people, thinking people, and people that are using the Gemba as their teacher.
00:23:32.779 --> 00:23:34.379
That's the shift, isn't it?
00:23:34.619 --> 00:23:38.139
Most organizations chase efficiency because it's measurable.
00:23:38.379 --> 00:23:42.059
But TPS is chasing something different, its capability.
00:23:42.379 --> 00:23:43.420
Yeah, exactly.
00:23:43.579 --> 00:23:51.099
It's about developing people who can see problems, think critically, and continually improve.
00:23:51.339 --> 00:23:55.500
The tools only matter when they stimulate thinking.
00:23:56.700 --> 00:24:03.980
And that's why just in time and judoka are visions of perfection, not cost reduction tactics.
00:24:04.460 --> 00:24:05.099
Right.
00:24:05.659 --> 00:24:08.460
They're ideals that stretch people.
00:24:09.019 --> 00:24:18.859
Not because they guarantee quarterly returns, but because striving toward them like an ideal state builds enduring excellence.
00:24:19.659 --> 00:24:22.539
So the real competitive advantage isn't Kanban.
00:24:22.940 --> 00:24:24.539
It isn't standard work.
00:24:25.099 --> 00:24:27.180
It isn't even the house diagram.
00:24:27.420 --> 00:24:31.819
Yeah, it's disciplined people who pursue perfection together.
00:24:32.379 --> 00:24:36.139
Which means lean leadership isn't about installing systems.
00:24:36.460 --> 00:24:38.220
No, it's about developing people.
00:24:38.460 --> 00:24:39.339
People first.
00:24:40.220 --> 00:24:42.379
People who can evolve the system.
00:24:42.859 --> 00:24:43.339
Yeah.
00:24:43.579 --> 00:24:48.779
And who keep evolving long after the original leaders are gone.
00:24:48.859 --> 00:24:51.019
So this is succession planning.
00:24:51.259 --> 00:24:52.700
Yeah, great.
00:24:53.180 --> 00:24:59.019
So maybe TPS was always less a production system.
00:24:59.579 --> 00:25:04.700
Yeah, and more people development, which brings me to this story, Tom.
00:25:04.779 --> 00:25:11.740
I went to Liverpool, talked at a company, and there was another high-powered consultant there.
00:25:11.819 --> 00:25:15.819
He's probably what way more well known than I am.
00:25:16.059 --> 00:25:17.899
And it was all about systems.
00:25:18.059 --> 00:25:22.460
And I was thinking, you know, at the center of all this has to be people development.
00:25:22.700 --> 00:25:26.139
I never, I shared that with them, but they never got it.
00:25:26.299 --> 00:25:29.099
So I think with the language, it's important.
00:25:29.259 --> 00:25:35.019
If you want to communicate to a CEO, yeah, tell them I'm going to implement a system that's going to get you results.
00:25:35.259 --> 00:25:39.899
But if you want long-term results, start educating them on capability.
00:25:41.019 --> 00:25:44.539
Yeah, that might be the most important takeaway of them all.
00:25:45.099 --> 00:25:48.700
So you may want to develop a skill from all this information.
00:25:49.500 --> 00:25:52.700
One skill to develop over the next two weeks.
00:25:53.819 --> 00:25:56.059
For everybody that's watching.
00:25:56.940 --> 00:25:59.339
Asking better why questions.
00:25:59.899 --> 00:26:17.019
If TPS is fundamentally about developing thinking people, then one practical skill the audience can take away and build on immediately is the discipline practice of asking thoughtful layered why questions.
00:26:17.500 --> 00:26:23.740
Not rapid-fire interrogation, not blame seeking, but structured curiosity.
00:26:25.019 --> 00:26:26.220
Yeah, thank you, Tom.
00:26:26.379 --> 00:26:27.259
That's really good.
00:26:27.500 --> 00:26:36.379
And if you want to know how to do this structured, layered why questions, look up the Socratic method.
00:26:36.619 --> 00:26:44.220
Figure out how to fold a question into itself and dig a little deeper on that topic, and you'll get it right.
00:26:44.379 --> 00:26:45.899
So develop that skill.
00:26:46.059 --> 00:26:47.659
We'll see you guys next time.
00:26:47.980 --> 00:26:48.700
Thank you.
00:26:49.180 --> 00:26:50.059
Thank you, Tom.
