The Toyota Production System (TPS), which is based on the philosophy of the complete elimination of all waste in pursuit of the most efficient methods, has roots tracing back to Sakichi Toyoda's automatic loom. TPS has evolved through many years of trial and error to improve efficiency based on the Just-in-Time concept developed by Kiichiro Toyoda, the founder (and second president) of Toyota Motor Corporation.
Waste can manifest as excess inventory, extraneous processing steps, and defective products, among other instances. All these "waste" elements intertwine with each other to create more waste, eventually impacting the management of the corporation itself.
The automatic loom invented by Sakichi Toyoda not only automated work that used to be performed manually, but also built the capability to make judgments into the machine itself. By eliminating both defective products and the associated wasteful practices, Sakichi succeeded in rapidly improving both productivity and work efficiency.
Kiichiro Toyoda, who inherited this philosophy, set out to realize his belief that "the ideal conditions for making things are created when machines, facilities, and people work together to add value without generating any waste." He conceived methodologies and techniques for eliminating waste between operations, between both lines and processes. The result was the Just-in-Time method.
Via the philosophies of "Daily Improvements" and "Good Thinking, Good Products, TPS has evolved into a world-renowned production system. Even today, all Toyota production divisions are making improvements to TPS day-and-night to ensure its continued evolution.
The Toyota spirit of monozukuri (making things) is today referred to as the "Toyota Way." It has been adopted not only by companies in Japan and within the automotive industry, but in production activities worldwide, and continues to evolve globally.