Many organizations around the world attempt to emulate the Toyota Production System (TPS) by adopting its techniques to boost performance, yet the results are often short‑lived. They frequently fail to cultivate the organizational culture required for employees to sustain and build upon Toyota’s success. Compounding this challenge is the absence of a comprehensive interpretation of how Taiichi Ohno shaped Toyota’s leadership culture from the very beginning — until now.
Understanding these missing elements of the Toyota Production System is essential to fully grasp The Ohno Method®. At its core is the recognition that developing people’s untapped potential and skills is a strategic advantage. This book provides that insight and illuminates crucial, long‑overlooked aspects of TPS.
What many do not realize is that when Taiichi Ohno resigned from Toyota in 1979, he told his trusted disciple, “The Toyota Production System is still incomplete. It must evolve from now on to be perfected.” He then dedicated the next decade of his life to advancing his vision of Just‑In‑Time through unique applications of the “Respect for People” principle.
The authors are uniquely positioned to tell this story. For more than 30 years, they have followed in Ohno’s footsteps in Japan and contributed to the development of The Ohno Method® beyond TPS and Toyota, guided and endorsed by Ohno’s protégé and their mentor, Hitoshi Yamada. They have successfully applied The Ohno Method® across diverse industries worldwide, adapting it to the needs of modern organizations while staying true to Ohno’s original vision.
Table of Contents:
Introduction Transformation Model Leadership Kaizen: The Missing Element Identifying the Vision Step 1: Developing a Sense of Urgency Step 2: Alignment of Personal and Organizational Goals Step 3: Translating Large Goals to Smaller Achievable Goals Step 4: Motivating People to Achieve the Ideal State Step 5: Designing a Self-Management System Step 6: Sustaining Self-Management to Achieve Innovation Step 7: Recognize and Challenge Innovation Conclusion
About the Author :
Junpei Nakamuro is an internationally recognized and accomplished enterprise-level Information Technology architect, operational change agent, and organizational strategist. Jun leads organizational projects based on optimizing for excellence while navigating the nuances of the social-technical complexities of operations and business. Jun's expertise is in leading the informational architecture to ensure the human/digital interface matches the future methodology needs of the company, its employees, and its customers. Jun develops organizations to proactively overcome preventative market disturbances, human errors, and system vulnerabilities. This expertise removes massive layers of unnecessary costs, leverages existing employee talents, and minimizes capital expenditure while maximizing product mix, responsiveness, customer engagement, and corporate social responsibilities. Jun is a leader/mentor in advancing the principles of the Toyota Production System through the design of innovative technical solutions that amplify the existing organization’s potential and beyond, without the normal associated risks and lead times. Over the years, Jun has received direct coaching on applying the ethos and mechanisms beyond the Toyota Production System, known as The Ohno Method® (TPS beyond Toyota), from the top leading expert in Japan to lead operational and digital operations in various companies worldwide. He is certified by Hitoshi Yamada -- Taiichi Ohno’s only disciple -- to train and coach The Ohno Method® to leaders and organizations.
As an organizational architect, Collin McLoughlin sustains the balance of vision and technology and designs the correct combination of frameworks, processes, capabilities, and technologies so the organization effectively responds to the changing business environment. He successfully aligns business and technology, identifying the necessary activities to bridge organizational transformation and guide this translation to new organizational platforms necessary to drive strategy into practice. Furthermore, he shapes the attributes of the current and future organization, allowing businesses to grow, retain profits, and provide greater value while minimizing CAPEX. The methodology that he uses is based on The Ohno Method®, and he is certified to train and coach this methodology. The Shingo Institute recognizes his contribution as “elite, world-class, and leading the world in enterprise excellence.” His leadership, experience, and results increase the value and contribution of businesses to the communities they serve. In 2021, he was officially recognized as the winner of the International Shingo Publication Award for his contribution to the advancement of industry with the book entitled True Kaizen, chronicling the most successful business frameworks. https://shingo.org/awards/publication-award/
Collin has led over 60 Industrial Study Missions to Japan to benchmark and mentor leading organizational leadership. He is recognized for designing, coaching, and advising some of the many influential businesses in the world, including Carl Zeiss, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Mars, Harvard Medical, Siemens, Heinz, and Dole, just to name a few. Collin has championed total organizational change across 12 different industries, including healthcare. His knowledge has allowed him to author over 800 different books, training materials, workshop packages, and subject-based lesson videos to help organizations succeed at creating sustainable improvement systems.
