Quotes from Jeffrey K. Liker

Most Business Processes Are 90% Waste and 10% Value-Added Work

Every team member has the responsibility to stop the line every time they see something that is out of standard. That's how we put the responsibility for quality in the hands of our team members.

We have to change the culture from one in which people simply do their own job in their own function to make their own numbers look good (a vertical focus) to one in which people are focused horizontally on the customer and on improving value streams that deliver value across functions.

Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation (genchi genbutsu).

We build cars, not intellectuals

The act of deeply thinking through problems, energizing people, and aligning them toward a common goal is the only way to practice and develop real leadership ability.

Standardization Is the Basis for Continuous Improvement and Quality

The use of a good process that engages people is much more desirable, even if it does not initially achieve all the results.

I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. —Ralph Nader, consumer advocate

All we are doing is looking at the time line from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing that time line by removing the non-value-added wastes. (Ohno, 1988)

Andon works only when you teach your employees the importance of bringing problems to the surface so they can be quickly solved.

You do not simply, mindlessly, implement the best practices. You have to think deeply about your condition. If the "best practice" seems like a useful countermeasure for your problem, you should learn from the best practice; however, what may have worked in some other place may not work for you without adjustment and even further improvement.

Ownership means once I detect a problem I own it. I am responsible for it.

Automobiles account for about 20 percent of the carbon dioxide from all human sources, yet about one fourth of the world's population enjoys their benefits.

No matter how many improvements have been made, every process is still full of waste and rife with opportunity to improve.

Be responsive to the day-by-day shifts in customer demand rather than relying on computer schedules and systems to track wasteful inventory.

management has no more critical role than to motivate and engage large numbers of people to work together toward a common goal. Defining and explaining what the goal is, sharing a path to achieving it, motivating people to take the journey with you, and assisting them by removing obstacles—those are management's reasons for being. We

Figura 5-4. Objetivos «sin compromiso». 1. Alta velocidad, manejabilidad/estabilidad Y AUN ASÍ Una conducción agradable 2. Conducción rápida y suave Y AUN ASÍ Bajo consumo 3. Muy silencioso Y AUN ASÍ Peso ligero 4. Estilo elegante Y AUN ASÍ Gran aerodinámica 5. Acogedor Y AUN ASÍ Interior funcional 6. Gran estabilidad y alta velocidad Y AUN ASÍ Gran valor de CD

las medidas de contención en la raíz, llevan consigo el concepto de "esto y, aun así, esto otro"».

Senior management is simply a flag bearer when a business decision is made. It is of no use unless others follow the flag. —Eiji Toyoda, former chairman of Toyota

A cornerstone of the Toyota Way is "challenge

Continuous improvement means getting better every day and is the driver for building a sustainable enterprise. Only those at the gemba can understand the problems fast enough to react quickly. Continuous improvement depends on a different paradigm of the role of the human—all humans are problem detectors and problem correctors—thinking scientifically.

One Toyota executive stated the sentiment well, "Team members are the only appreciating asset we have. Everything else starts depreciating from the moment we buy it.

Toyota's concept of a good process is one that expects and reveals problems, without blame, not one that is problem-free.