The soft side of the Toyata production system is the hard side

This thesis analyzes the challenges associate with the rollout of the Toyota Production System (TPS) in a US vinyl extrusion plant. There is a cursory explanation of some of the Technical aspects of TPS, and implementation problems are examined and analyzed in the context of cultural barriers. The thesis contends that the softer, more subtle, leadership principles demonstrated by Toyota management are just as important to Toyota as is the elegance of its production system. Findings include the identification of three key leadership traits that are evident within Toyota, and that are necessary to facilitate the cultural shift to a TPS environment. Those leadership traits are: I) Set Consistent Direction with Fluid Constraints. 2) Create a Culture of Removing Barriers. 3) Develop the Capabilities of People to Improve.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

1998

Author dc:creator

• Johnson, Brent M., 1967-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Stephen Graves and Yossi Sheffi.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Civil and Environmental Engineering.
• Leaders for Manufacturing Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/44607

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/44607