Learning | Art of Lean

Learning

Canonical, in-depth guides to the Toyota Production System and the methods behind it — built from real course material and decades of practice, not summarized from the internet.

Guides 01

Standardized Work

What standardized work is and how it fits within TPS — the conditions it needs, the three elements, the three major forms, and how leaders use it for daily management and kaizen.

7 sections 02

Training Within Industry

The U.S. wartime program that built the first-line supervisor — its history, the three "J" programs, its spread to Japan and Toyota, and an honest look at the "roots of lean" claim.

8 sections 03

Job Instruction

The Training Within Industry method for teaching a person to do a job correctly, safely, and conscientiously — the four steps, the Job Breakdown Sheet, the training matrix, and the harder cases.

7 sections 04

The Training Within Industry method for leading people and handling problems with them — the four foundations for good relations, the four-step method, the problem worksheet, and the supervisor's wider web of relationships.

7 sections 05

Job Methods

The Training Within Industry method for improving the way a job is done — break down the job, question every detail with 5W1H, develop the new method with ECRS, and apply it, plus the breakdown and proposal sheets.

7 sections 06

Kaizen

The Toyota work-improvement skills a team leader builds — seeing waste, the six-step procedure, the analysis tools (motion, work-element, time study, equipment loss), generating ideas, building and confirming the plan, and the full breadth of the craft.

9 sections