
Why can’t other automakers surpass Toyota despite mastering its production system?
Since 1980s, manufacturers worldwide have benchmarked Toyota Production System (TPS). Production lead times now match Toyota’s, and TPS elements became global standards.
Yet Toyota maintains overwhelming advantage. Why?
๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฎ๐ถ’๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต ๐๐ถ๐๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐
Takao Sakai reveals:
“95% ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐บ๐ฐ๐ต๐ข’๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ง๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.”
This challenges everything we thought about Toyota’s success.
Toyota’s philosophy: “๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ, ๐พ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ถ๐๐, ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ด.”
-๐ง๐ฃ๐ (๐ง๐ผ๐๐ผ๐๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ฝ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐)ย creates “sellable products”
-๐ง๐ฃ๐ฆย handles “producing efficiently”
Since 1970, TPD’s profit contribution exceeded TPS. By late 1980s, Toyota achieved 48-month development lead timesโ12 months shorter than competitors, developing twice as many models with half the engineering hours. The Prius’s 12-month development exemplified this mastery.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฑ% ๐ฅ๐๐น๐ฒ: ๐๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด
Toyota’s Chief Engineers are “product presidents” responsible for consumer value, profit margins, and the technology to realize bothโlike Steve Jobs, designers in the broadest sense.
Sakai’s key insight:
Value and cost are determined in early design stages. Later changes become impossibleโlike changing Christmas dinner after chopping ingredients.
Companies like Sharp (acquired by Foxconn) and Toshiba (accounting scandals) lost humility to learn, mirroring American auto industry’s decline. Jeffrey Liker identified Toyota’s advantage: treating development as a standardized process with PDCA cycles and waste elimination.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐จ๐น๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ผ๐ป
Prius chief engineer Takeshi Uchiyamada brought all teams together in “Obeya” for transparency and speedโcontributing to 12-month development success.
Old Mikawa* saying: “Making things that don’t sell is a crime.”
๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฎ๐ถ’๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ฐ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป:
๐ง๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐ ๐ง๐ฃ๐ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ.ย When 95% of profits are determined before production begins, real competitive advantage lies in superior product development systems, not manufacturing efficiency.
๐ค๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ณ๐น๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป:
-What percentage of your organization’s resources and leadership attention goes to product development versus production optimization?
-Are you designing tomorrow’s success or just perfecting yesterday’s processes?
*Mikawa: historical region in eastern Aichi Prefecture where Toyota is headquartered