In the heyday of large-scale mass production, production engineers used to agree that the fewer the changeovers, the better. However, in today’s market, where large product variety, small output volumes, and short delivery are all daily realities, factories are having to make frequent product-model changeovers to match production to current market needs.
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5S is an acronym for five Japanese words that are Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu and Shitsuke. 5S is the beginning of a healthy, comfortable and productive life for everyone at work. This is fundamental to productivity improvement.
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In the Toyota Way, it’s the people who bring the system to life: working, communicating, resolving issues, and
growing together. The Toyota Way goes well beyond this; it encourages, supports, and in fact demands employee involvement. |
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In 2004, Dr. Jeffrey Liker, a University of Michigan professor of industrial engineering, published The Toyota Way. In his book Liker calls the Toyota Way "a system designed to provide the tools for people to continually improve their work." The system can be summarized in 14 principles. According to Liker, the 14 principles of The Toyota Way are organized in four sections: (1) long-term philosophy, (2) the right process will produce the right results, (3) add value to the organization by developing your people, and (4) continuously solving root problems drives organizational learning.
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