Toyota claims two pillars for their success:
1. JIT or the elimination of all non-value adding wastes.
2. “Respect for people.”
Discussions about Lean normally relate to the tools to eliminate the wastes. Very little is ever mentioned about the second pillar.
“Respect for people” is developing all workers to their maximum creative abilities and Toyota does this in a number of ways:
1. Jidoka – empowering everyone to “pull the cord,” to stop working, to stop everyone around them from working, whenever they detect a problem or a possible problem. Getting to the root cause of the problem is a wonderful learning and growing experience.
2. Asking every worker to come up with small creative ideas to make their work easier, more interesting and to build their skills and capabilities. I call this Quick and Easy Kaizen. The average Japanese company receives 24 ideas per year per employee and saves $4000 per year per employee. Ask yourself are you doing this and if not why not?
The secret to all of this is teaching people how to “see;” how to identify and then how to solve problems.
Mr. Ohno and Dr. Shingo were masters in teaching us how to see. Dr. Shingo in his latest book teaches us how to identify and how to solve problems. It is a great book.
To see for yourself. Go to superfactory.com and read a chapter from Dr. Shingo’s book.
1. JIT or the elimination of all non-value adding wastes.
2. “Respect for people.”
Discussions about Lean normally relate to the tools to eliminate the wastes. Very little is ever mentioned about the second pillar.
“Respect for people” is developing all workers to their maximum creative abilities and Toyota does this in a number of ways:
1. Jidoka – empowering everyone to “pull the cord,” to stop working, to stop everyone around them from working, whenever they detect a problem or a possible problem. Getting to the root cause of the problem is a wonderful learning and growing experience.
2. Asking every worker to come up with small creative ideas to make their work easier, more interesting and to build their skills and capabilities. I call this Quick and Easy Kaizen. The average Japanese company receives 24 ideas per year per employee and saves $4000 per year per employee. Ask yourself are you doing this and if not why not?
The secret to all of this is teaching people how to “see;” how to identify and then how to solve problems.
Mr. Ohno and Dr. Shingo were masters in teaching us how to see. Dr. Shingo in his latest book teaches us how to identify and how to solve problems. It is a great book.
To see for yourself. Go to superfactory.com and read a chapter from Dr. Shingo’s book.
November 24, 2007 Vancouver, Washington
Announcing a new hardcover Shigeo Shingo book, Kaizen and the Art of Creative Thinking. Once again Dr. Shingo will amaze you. Along with Taiichi Ohno, Dr. Shingo co-developed TPS (LEAN) with his deep understanding of how to improve the overall process of production. Dr. Shingo reveals how he taught Toyota and other Japanese companies the art of identifying and solving problems.
Many companies in the West are trying to emulate Lean but few can do it. Why not? Possibly, because we in the West do not recognize, develop and support the creative potential of every worker in solving problems. Toyota makes all employees problem solvers. Shingo gives you the tools to do it.
It is an easy to read brilliant book!
Dr. Shingo presents six unique models, the sum of which he calls the Scientific Thinking Mechanism. These frameworks allow groups to deconstruct problems and rebuild them into powerful improvement ideas. This concept is central to TPS and provides the necessary foundation for any Lean Initiative to be built upon.
Download a chapter of the book from: http://www.superfactory.com/articles/Bodek_Kaizen_Creative_Excerpt.htm
“Dr. Shingo was a master of Kaizen, he had the scientific training and innovative genius to deeply understand processes and the humility to realize that he needed the operators to take ownership. We are fortunate to have this new opportunity to gaze deeply into the thinking of one of the true geniuses behind TPS. —Dr. Shigeo Shingo.” – From the foreword by Jeffrey K. Liker, Ph. D., New York Times best-selling author of The Toyota Way
“This book contains a myriad of case studies taken from of ce examples as well as shop oors. It is a gold mine of improvement ideas that cumulatively must have saved millions, and could still do so today!” Don Dewar, President & Founder Quality Digest Magazine(
“Kaizen and the Art of Creative Thinking is a revealing book and is the genesis manuscript to the Lean Manufacturing mindset. It captures the fundamental thought process to structure problem solving activities and is the foundation to all essential aspects of the Kaizen philosophy. Truly a wealth of knowledge, wisdom and frameworks to embolden you to change existing practices!” - Michel Mestre, Ph.D. Professor, School of Business Northwest University
“For those of us who have revered the work of Dr. Shingo, this is an exciting work. More so than any other of his books - Bill Kluck, President Northwest Lean Network
“Practicing Kaizen (the habit of making small improvements) eludes many people. Dr. Shingo’s Scienti c Thinking Mechanism replaces the hope of the ash of creativity with a reliable and learnable habit-building approach. Thanks for making this Rosetta Stone for Kaizen available to the world.” - Hal Macomber, Principal Lean Project Consulting, Inc.
“This book teaches managers to be problem solvers instead of problem chasers.” – Collin McLoughlin, co-publisher
Dr, Shingo’s earlier books were: A Revolution in Manufacturing: The SMED System, Study of the Toyota Production System: From an Industrial Engineering Viewpoint, Zero Quality Control: Source Inspection and the Poka-Yoke System, The Sayings of Shigeo Shingo: Key Strategies for Plant Improvement, The Shingo Production Management System: Improving Process Functions, Non-stock Production: The Shingo System of Continuous Improvement
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