Celebrating the enigma: the continuing puzzle of the Toyota Production System

This introduction to the special issue celebrates the 30th anniversary of the publication of Sugimori et al. (Sugimori, Y., Kusunoki, K., Cho, F. and Uchikawa, S., Toyota production system and Kanban system: materialisation of just-in-time and respect-for-human system. Int. J. Prod. Res., 1977, 15(6...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of production research 2007-08, Vol.45 (16), p.3545-3554
Main Author: New, S. J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Japanese manufacturing
Just-in-time
Lean production
Toyota Production System
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This introduction to the special issue celebrates the 30th anniversary of the publication of Sugimori et al. (Sugimori, Y., Kusunoki, K., Cho, F. and Uchikawa, S., Toyota production system and Kanban system: materialisation of just-in-time and respect-for-human system. Int. J. Prod. Res., 1977, 15(6), 553-564), the first extensive description of the Toyota Production System (TPS) to be published in English. After some initial discussion of the TPS, this article reviews three important issues regarding the context of the original paper: the West's growing interest in Japanese manufacturing; the preoccupation with information technology as the future of production; and, concerns with job design and motivation. The Sugimori paper is then analysed in these terms, focusing on the technical and human elements of the TPS. The article closes with an introduction to the other papers in the special issue.
ISSN:0020-7543
1366-588X
DOI:10.1080/00207540701223386