At Toyota we are proud to be the original source of lean-thinking. Lean as a philosophy has emerged over recent decades and is now successfully established and implemented all over the world in all branches of industry. However, the origins of lean are based entirely on the Toyota Production System (TPS), which was developed by Taiichi Ohno (pictured opposite) in the 1950s.
The main questions that usually arise when starting to plan your lean transformation are: How should I do this? Where do I start? Who can help me with the implementation? We aim to answer these questions by providing a lean partnership that has the benefit of hands-on experience in lean transformation.
Our Lean Academy team has a broad experience in terms of both lean application and lean leadership, all of which we have built up in our own factories and through our own experiences. We can therefore provide full support and guidance for your lean journey, whether you are just starting out or if your journey has been going on for many years. We welcome you to learn lean from the source!
Toyota is the world-recognized origin of lean-thinking, built on the foundation of the Toyota Production System.
At Toyota we put a lot of emphasis on the foundational elements. Visual management, 5S and daily management are the methods that shape a company's culture and prepare it for lean transformation. We also dig deep into the leadership behaviour of the company. We know that support and involvement from the top down is the key to ensuring lean transformation results that will stand the test of time.
Lean journey starting point is to get your current situation reviewed by someone who has seen the lean journey themselves.
Selected members of TLA have extensive hands-on lean leadership experience from inside Toyota and have personally been involved in the lean transformation journey of the European factories’ integration.
We use the legendary Jishuken method as a model to improve which will accelerate your lean process performance.
We offer lean methods and tools in open trainings, hosted by our European network but we can also tailor training focusing on your company's specific needs.
Jishuken method made us the no. 1 lean logistics company. We transfer the knowledge to you as a customer to secure future success in your lean journey.
Lean Academy’s investment planning service provides expert advice and assessment to ensure that lean principles are established and maintained as part of the investment and implementation programme.
Toyota Lean Academy team members are all highly experienced professionals with a deep understanding of lean principles, to bring real value to customer operations.
Toyota's Lean Academy is built on a Europe-wide network of experts, all of whom have been working closely with Toyota's lean manufacturing operations for several years.
Depending on your requirements the team delivers valuable support, ranging from lean assessment and training, through to complete lean transformation programmes.
•We help and guide you in your lean journey, whether you just started or it has been going on for decades.
•We want to share our knowledge with our customers by attending or hosting events all over Europe.
We are hosting our own events on a regular basis. Check out our event list for the upcoming events. Join and book a meeting with us at any of the events by filling out a form.
The key target in our approach is sustainable performance results. To achieve this, we develop people and by this, the whole organization. We are not only looking for quick results and payback. We want that people are changing their mind and behaviour towards problem solving and kaizen attitude. This contributes to eliminate waste and makes Kaizen easier. In summary. We develop people to achieve strong, sustainable results.
Our advice is built on our own experience through practical participation. In the year 2000 Toyota acquired BT Industries, a Swedish mid-size producer of material handling equipment. In the years after the acquisition during the integration process, we collected deep know-how in the Toyota way/TPS when working together with our Japanese sensei's (teachers). It is this unique insight that we use in our advice towards our customers. We know how to see the lean journey completely through.
The most important thing: Total participation. Complete Top management commitment and people engagement from the beginning!
Toyota Production System (TPS) is the origin of lean-thinking. Lean as a philosophy is based on TPS and collects the majority of its content from the concept. The Toyota Way was released 2001 by the Toyota Motor Corporation, confirming the company’s core values in 5 blocks: Kaizen, Challenge, Genchi Genbutsu, Teamwork and Respect. Toyota Way was also the name of one of the more influencial books in the lean community written by Dr Jeffrey K Liker describing 14 management principles used by Toyota.
If you really want to go the Toyota way, we need your 100% commitment and 100% dedication, especially if you want to join a lean transformation program. That means top management taking the lead and involving the people of the organization.
There are a lot of different opportunities to measure. Our target is that the improvement created in our work should last for many many years, not only short initial payback. Therefore, we focus very much on installing necessary infrastructure to maintain the new ways of working, for example daily management.
Visual management is one vital approach in the follow up process. For example, the visualization on Asaichi (morning meeting) Boards, displaying Safety, Environment, Quality, Delivery, Cost KPIs for each section. In our Jishuken projects we formulize the improvement targets very carefully after assessing the current situation. By this way, we can anticipate the results and follow carefully at the Jishuken obeya. In the end, you will see it in the financial results.
Yes of course. In our factories we have very complex high mix low volume machinery with tact time measuring several hours and at these processes we apply the lean methods. In every business or process you can distinguish between what is value adding and what is not value adding in the processes. This is the base, it works everywhere, even in your home.
We follow the TPS "true north" vision when setting up our programs and projects. The compass in our logotype is pointing towards the True North and it refers to do what we should rather than what we can do. That means the ideal or state of TPS perfection that we should strive for and be guided by when creating the targets going from the current state. This describes well also how we would work with you, stay close to the vision when creating the targets and road map.
This is the TPS true north vision: