On August 15, 1945, the founder of Toyota Motor, Ichiro Toyota, put forward an arrogant slogan "Catch up with the United States in three years." At that time, the productivity of the United States was eight times that of Japan. In the words of Ohno, the father of Toyota, "the waste in Japan is eight times that of the United States." Although the goal of catching up with the United States was achieved more than 60 years later, Toyota is the only company in Asia that can export management and values to the world. It can be said that the Toyota model has changed the definition of manufacturing.

Toyota people use a simple example to illustrate, for example, the company bought equipment, the equipment is called production, but the use of these equipment to create double, triple, or even N times the value, this is called manufacturing. The device cannot do it by itself, and people with wisdom can do it. Therefore, from the perspective of equipment, equipment is called production, and from the perspective of human intelligence, equipment is called manufacturing.

In Toyota, there is a famous way of working: everything asks five why. The reason is very simple. Answer one question, why the first one is mostly appearance. The deeper you ask, the more you come into contact with the truth of the problem, and these truths are mostly related to culture, not simple mistakes.

Take Ohno's problem as an example: Why is the productivity of the United States eight times that of Japan? A: Because Japan is eight times as wasteful as the United States. Why is the waste in Japan eight times that of the United States? In this way, the final answer must be "cultural level", that is, the biggest waste is human waste and intellectual waste. This is the starting point of the Toyota model. The Toyota model defines itself as a way of thinking (Thinking) production. The Toyota production model is a strategic model that wins competition by exploiting human potential.

       Become an employee who can maximize value creation

Toyota 5S management-Anyone who has been to Toyota will be shocked by Toyota ’s employees because Toyota ’s employees are so different, they not only work seriously and responsibly, but also make a magical contribution to the company. Small "ideas" to eliminate all kinds of waste in work and reduce manufacturing costs.

There is a saying in Toyota: "People will not be touched by your product, only by your employees." At the Toyota site, Toyota employees saw that they took their work so seriously and devoted themselves to improving every detail. It really touches people, or only when you arrive at the scene, you will deeply feel the special "mental state" of Toyota employees.

Especially when visiting some old factories of Toyota, this kind of shock will be more intense. There, Toyota employees still use equipment from the 1970s and 1980s. These equipment have been used for more than 30 years, but using these equipment facing obsolescence, Toyota has produced products of world quality.

Comparison with many enterprises in China, especially China's automobile manufacturing industry. Why are employees in Chinese companies not as serious and dedicated as Toyota employees, and not as committed to paying for the company as Toyota employees? I think the problem must not be with employees, but with enterprise managers. As many managers as there are employees.

So why does Toyota have such a big charm and make its employees so unique? Toyota's training experts explained this way:

Toyota developed from remote villages, Japan itself lacks resources, but thanks to these difficulties, because we have nothing, so we work from the wisdom of employees, relying on the wisdom of each employee, Toyota has finally created first-class products.

The creation (product) is the creation (employee). Only when there is a person (employee), there will be something (product). This is the entrance of Toyota's management model. Or according to Toyota, that is, the "human wealth" mechanism.

"Human wealth": asking for benefits from people

Toyota people believe that there are many factors for their success, but the entrance to Toyota's management model is only written with simple words, that is, "human wealth".

The entrance of Toyota and Ford's management model is completely different. The entrance of Ford's management mode is machine and technology, which is "materials and wealth" (transforming products into wealth), and the entrance of Toyota's management mode is "human wealth" (transforming human wisdom For wealth).

What made Toyota's myth? What makes the Toyota people step by step through the efforts of more than half a century to the top of the world's automobile manufacturing industry and dominate the global automobile industry under backward conditions? What makes Toyota remain profitable for more than 70 years and become the most profitable company in the automotive industry in the world? What does Toyota's power depend on?

In Toyota, there is also a slogan, "Don't worry about the lack of quality of employees, but worry about the waste of wisdom used by managers." Toyota executives tell us that Toyota also has many employees with low education level, especially temporary workers, but Toyota does not think that diploma is an obstacle to manufacturing quality products, because Toyota has found a magic weapon-"human wealth".

Toyota believes that how can you get a return on employee cultivation? The answer is to treat employees as "human wealth." Learning that cannot produce benefits is not real learning. Therefore, at the same time that an enterprise is making machines, it is necessary to "make people" or to educate people. If the process of manufacturing products is regarded as the process of transforming employees' wisdom into creating value, then employees become "human wealth".

The core of the Toyota model is to eliminate waste, so what exactly is waste? As long as we don't create value for our customers, we can call it waste. In the eyes of Westerners, the quality of products is a process issue, which is resolved by experts. In the eyes of Toyota people, this is a problem of "improving the soul", that is, the quality of the product is the soul of the team. If "good" has a problem, we must work together through the team to reflect everyone's "loyalty" to the nation in the "improvement" of the entire system, and the problem is the real solution.

The success of the Toyota 5s management system is the success of the organizational culture system and a breakthrough in the American-style management system. Then, we can't fall into the details of lean management like most books on Toyota, but we must observe Toyota at a whole new level, that is, find out where Toyota's management model entrance is.

Only when we find the entrance to Toyota's 5S management model will we find the entrance to China's management model, and when we find the entrance to China's management model, each of our companies will truly find their own destination, and we can calm down the impetuous mood of "rootless" Down.