Rebuilding U.S. Manufacturing (and Project Capability)
February 1st, 2006 by HalIndustry Week (IW) begins a year-long series today Rebuilding U.S. Manufacturing with four articles on Toyota. John Teresko starts with a comprehensive article Learning from Toyota — Again. This article recaps the highlights of how Toyota has come to dominate the automotive industry and earn the reputation as the best manufacturer in the world. Everyone in business needs to understand the lessons from Toyota. Sooner or later you will face competitors who use lean approaches in their business and their projects. You owe it to yourself to get there first.
IW has three more articles in this series in today's issue. In TPS' Guiding Principles, Teresko explains what gives Toyota long-term staying power. They've systematically encouraged all employees to improve operational effectiveness through kaizen. In another article, Partnership Pays Off, Teresko tells the story of how Toyota came to the U.S. in the partnership with GM at the notorious Freemont, CA plant. IW also offers a listing of Toyota's 14 Principles from Jeffrey Liker's book The Toyota Way.
Make the time this week to read these articles. John Teresko has done an outstanding job introducing the background and lessons of Toyota's success. It's a simple story, really. It's the execution of those lessons that has eluded so many firms.
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February 7th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
“It’s the execution of those lessons that has eluded so many firms.” It could not be said any more plainly than that. Project management, lean, kaizen require flawless execution to be successful However, execution is a word oft-bandied about by the likes of Bossidy et al, but never really explained. What does it mean to execute upon a strategy? Teresko goes far to explain it as “going beyond the walls” through enterprise-wide focus and a commitment to value creation. This is a good first step to defining the specific steps needed to execute effectively. Now, all must move beyond this over-arching definition and identify the specific steps required to transform a culture.
February 7th, 2006 at 7:38 pm
Hello Michael,
Thanks for the comment today. I hope you enjoyed Teresko’s articles. Many people claim to know the secrets of transforming a culture. I’ve not been convinced. I’ve seen too many well-intentioned efforts derailed mid-stream when company leadership changes. Toyota has been at it for 50 years with a constancy of purpose and little attention on satisfying the financial markets in the short term. Very few others have that kind of stick-to-it-ness.