A Modern Kaizen Ability Map
An advanced reference, not a lesson — and a snapshot, not the last word. This is the most detailed version of Toyota's kaizen ability map we have come across: four domains, twenty-two subject areas, and close to 384 individually-assessed skills.
Section 9 built the foundational skills map and showed, in its closing figure, that the mature instrument goes much deeper. This section lays that instrument out as fully as the version in hand allows. It is a reference to scan, not a narrative to read straight through — a map of how far the craft actually extends. In the version mapped here, fully developed kaizen capability spans four domains, twenty-two subject areas, and, beneath them, close to 384 individual skills — each one self-assessed on a six-level scale from "don't know" to "can direct others."
This is not the ability map, and it is certainly not complete. It is the most recent version we have come across — a Toyota internal self-assessment that is already more than a decade old. Toyota has almost certainly identified more skills and reorganized areas since. Treat what follows as an honest illustration of how deep the craft runs, not as a definitive or current catalog.
By the end of this section, you should understand:
- the six-level capability scale the map scores every skill on,
- all twenty-two subject areas, grouped by their four domains,
- how deep each area runs, with a representative sample of its skills,
- how the map is used as a self-assessment and an annual development plan.
1The six-level capability scale
What makes the map an assessment rather than a checklist is that every skill is scored on the same six-level scale. The levels separate four things most training blurs together: knowing about a tool, understanding it, being able to use it alone, and being able to teach and direct others in it.
A skill is not binary. "I know the seven wastes" and "I can direct others through a difficult improvement" are five levels apart on this scale. The gap between them is the craft.
Have not encountered the skill.
Know what it is and what it is for.
Have used it in a real kaizen.
Can apply it unaided on the floor.
Can instruct others systematically.
Can coach others and set their next subject.
Every one of the map's skills is self-assessed on this scale, then re-assessed each half-year against a target. The levels run from awareness through independent practice to the ability to develop others.
What to notice: a guide like this one can carry a reader to about Level 2 — understanding — on a subset of skills. Level 3 and up are earned only by repeated application on the floor, and Levels 5–6 describe a developer of other people, not just a capable practitioner. That is why genuine kaizen capability is measured in years.
2Four domains, twenty-two subject areas
The twenty-two subject areas distribute across the four domains as three, eight, eight, and three. Each area carries its own set of skills in two layers — the field-management and problem-discovery tools, and the specific kaizen techniques. The table below names every area, shows how many skills it holds, and samples a few of them. The counts are the point: a single area like logistics runs to dozens of named methods on its own.
| Subject area | Skills | A representative sample |
|---|---|---|
| TPS Basic Thinking — the mindset: understand Toyota's history and the Toyota Way, and the spirit to keep evolving TPS | ||
| TPS philosophy | — | The Toyota Way; the history of TPS; the spirit to evolve the system, not merely apply it. |
| Stability (safety, quality, productivity) | — | The 4M stability that must be in place before flow can be pursued. |
| Attitude to kaizen | — | Problem awareness; challenging the current state; "poor-but-fast over smart-but-slow." |
| Just-in-Time — reduce the stagnation of material and information, and shorten lead time | ||
| 1 · Grasp of material & information flow | 8 | Material-&-information-flow chart; parts/process compatibility matrix; process spaghetti chart; line gentani chart. |
| 2 · Heijunka (the prerequisite of JIT) | 9 | Heijunka post; delivered-record / performance board; fluctuation-absorbing store; high-frequency withdrawal. |
| 3 · Takt from required quantity | 6 | Takt time; actual takt time; cycle time; full-one-manpower pursuit. |
| 4 · Logistics | 57 | Pull system; fixed-quantity / fixed-time conveyance; milk-run & relay routes; water-spider and hired-taxi (call) supply; lane & ticket systems; delivery diagram; PC store. |
| 5 · Production instruction | 35 | Order-accepted vs expected production; assembly-line control (ALC); sequential withdrawal; signal kanban; lot formation; P–Q chart; e-kanban. |
| 6 · Small lot | 26 | Changeover time & manpower; on-line → off-line setup (SMED); lot size; order point; setup-compatibility table. |
| 7 · Kanban | 30 | Withdrawal / production-instruction / signal / one-way / e-kanban; kanban rotation-count; returnable kanban; visual-control tools. |
| 8 · Continuous material flow | 6 | Single-piece flow; smooth-flow (seiryuka); compatibility chart; simplified equipment; multi-process handling. |
| Improvement of Productivity — raise labor, equipment, and material productivity, and manage cost | ||
| 12 · Kaizen of standardized work | 23 | Standardized work; takt; work sequence; standard WIP; Type I / II / III sheets; the three standard sheets; time study; yamazumi. |
| 13 · Motion kaizen | 15 | Value-added vs incidental work; two-hand motion analysis; strike-zone (work-area) evaluation; video analysis; motion-distance & overlap reduction. |
| 14 · Flexible manpower line (shojinka) | 13 | Manpower savings; multi-skill development; general-purpose line; man-machine ratio; bridge (shared) parts. |
| 15 · Equipment & line capability | 18 | Machine & line capacity; bottleneck machine; cycle chart; MCT, air-cut & dwell-timer reduction; net- and near-net-shape. |
| 16 · Rate of operation & availability | 19 | Operation rate vs availability (稼働率 / 可動率); performance analysis board; MTBF / MTTR; breakdown-data and failure-mode analysis (FMEA). |
| 17 · Material productivity | 18 | Gentani × rate; net-shape; yield & scrap reduction; material grade-down; standardized-parts selection. |
| 18 · Cost | 12 | The cost-reduction principle; in-house manufacturing cost; variable vs fixed cost; apparent vs true efficiency; asset turnover. |
| 19 · Management of the kaizen leader | 15 | Role & attitude of the kaizen leader; 5-Why & visualization; subject-setting; problem-solving; people development; engaging others. |
| Jidoka — build quality in at each process, and run the floor by managing abnormality | ||
| Build quality in at each process | 27 | First-in-first-out; quality guaranteed by flow; JKK / jikotei-kanketsu (self-process completion); Ryohin Joken (good-product conditions); limit samples; poka-yoke; root-cause & recurrence prevention. |
| Separate human work from machine work | 10 | Manpower vs labor saving; abnormal / completed / process-finished stop; multi-machine & multi-process handling; hand-release. |
| Shop-floor management as abnormality management | 17 | Standard for normal vs abnormal; work standard; visual control; andon; fixed-position stop; AB / ABCD control; change-point management; quick recovery. |
All twenty-two subject areas across the four domains, with the number of individually-listed skills in each and a representative sample. The samples are a fraction of what each area contains. Skill counts are from the mapped version; the three TPS Basic Thinking areas are assessed as mindset rather than itemized into discrete tools.
What to notice: the operational areas alone run to well over 350 named skills, and a single area — logistics — holds dozens by itself. This is the gap Section 9 opened with, drawn to scale: knowing the seven wastes and running a few improvements is a real start, but it is a handful of cells on a map this large.
3How the map is used
The map is not a poster; it is a working instrument — the Toyota Kaizen Skills Assessment. A practitioner scores their current level on every skill, sets a target level for each by the end of the year, and re-scores every half-year. The results plot as a radar chart, and the gaps between current and target become a concrete annual development plan — which skills to build next, in which order, with whom to learn them from.
That is what turns "get better at kaizen" from an aspiration into a measurable, personal path. It also reframes a blank cell honestly: not a deficiency, but the next thing to learn. No one fills the whole map quickly, and the people who can score Level 5 or 6 across many areas are the ones who develop everyone else.
The point of seeing a map this large is not to master all 384 skills — almost no one does, and the map itself keeps growing. It is to replace the illusion of completeness with an accurate sense of the terrain, so that improvement has somewhere to go. A practitioner who knows roughly where they sit on a map this large keeps learning; one who believes the foundational toolkit is the whole of kaizen stops.
Section summary
This version of the kaizen ability map spans four domains, twenty-two subject areas, and close to 384 individually-assessed skills. Every skill is scored on a six-level scale — don't know, understand, have experience, can do alone, can teach, can direct — so capability is measured, not assumed. The twenty-two areas distribute three / eight / eight / three across TPS Basic Thinking, Just-in-Time, Improvement of Productivity, and Jidoka; the operational areas alone hold well over 350 named skills, with logistics running to dozens on its own. And this is a decade-old snapshot — the real map has almost certainly grown since.
Used as the Toyota Kaizen Skills Assessment, the map drives a half-yearly self-evaluation and an annual development plan. Its purpose is not to be completed but to give an honest sense of the terrain — so that a practitioner who has learned the foundational toolkit can see how much craft still lies ahead, and keep going.