TPS from Yamazaki #2: Strong Shop Floor Management

The power of the Toyota Production System (TPS) comes not only from production techniques but from the way the shop floor is managed. In this part of the “TPS Perspective” series compiled from the TPS seminar notes of Gemba Partner Japan Managing Director Tetsuya Yamazaki, we cover what strong shop floor management is, the 10 fundamental conditions of shop floor management and the Genchi Genbutsu approach.

For the first part of the series: TPS Perspective from Yamazaki #1 – The Toyota Production System Is a Management Philosophy.

What Is Strong Shop Floor Management?

According to Yamazaki, TPS strengthens the production floor, and building a strong shop floor is one of the fundamental responsibilities of managers at every level. So what is strong shop floor management?

It is an organizational structure that does not hide problems, can see the previous process’s mistakes, turns kaizen into a daily activity, continuously performs PDCA toward shared goals and acts as a team. To build this structure, our field management and development system efforts are a good starting point.

The Next Process Is the Customer

One of the fundamental ideas of lean management is the “the next process is the customer” approach. When a process sends defective, incomplete or untimely output to the process after it, it is actually serving its customer poorly. Therefore quality is not sought only at final inspection; quality is built into the process.

In Yamazaki’s approach there is one more step beyond this: in a manufacturing company, other departments need to work in a structure that supports the production floor. Because the shop floor is where the factory produces results.

The 10 Fundamental Conditions of Shop Floor Management

Yamazaki’s shop floor management approach can be summarized in ten fundamental principles:

1. Show respect for people.
2. See the next process as your customer.
3. Look for ways you can do it, not reasons you can’t.
4. Do not shift responsibility to others.
5. Do not hide problems.
6. Understand the real problem; act with 5 Whys and Genchi Genbutsu.
7. Avoid formalism.
8. Act simply, quickly and decisively.
9. Use your brain first, not your money.
10. Instead of endless planning, take a real action that starts PDCA.

These principles also form the foundation of the management system we call operational excellence today.

Genchi Genbutsu: Managing Reality, Not Reports

Genchi Genbutsu means going to the place where the problem occurs and seeing the actual conditions on the spot. For a manager, reports, KPIs and data are important; but none of them replaces the Gemba. Instead of deciding based on assumptions, a manager should go to the shop floor, see the current situation with their own eyes and try to understand the real cause of the problem.

Therefore Genchi Genbutsu is not only a problem-solving technique but also a strong shop floor management discipline. In practice, its best-known application is Shop Floor Management and Gemba Walk routines.

Taiichi Ohno’s Management Approach

There is a very powerful idea in the Taiichi Ohno approach conveyed by Yamazaki: 100 people taking 1 step is worth more than one person taking 100 steps. Because sustainable kaizen comes not from big projects by a few experts but from the entire organization taking part in continuous improvement.

Therefore a manager’s job is not only to demand results. It is necessary to make problems visible, make people think, go to the shop floor, question causes and develop employees’ problem-solving ability.

Conclusion

A true lean management culture forms when kaizen stops being a project and becomes the everyday way of working. For the continuation of the series: TPS Perspective from Yamazaki #3 – The Real Logic of Kaizen, Productivity and Cost Reduction. To set up a shop floor management system on your shop floor, get in touch with us.