POST: Extreme Toyota’s Lesson for American Auto, November 19th, 2008 by Hal
While American Auto go hat-in-hand to Washington, I thought it might be instructive to take a look at what those firms have missed while Toyota has steadily out-invested, out-innovated and racked up more profits than all three combined. Who’s got the answer? How about three professors from a Japanese business school.
Deming’s advice to the Japanese in the 1950’s was to adopt a systems perspective where the consumer was the most important part of the production line, and to reduce variation — Advice that is relevant to any industry.
