Standards should not be forced down from above but rather set by the production workers themselves.
Interpretation
Production workers should have a say in setting their own standards for work.
This quote emphasizes the importance of empowering production workers to define the standards and practices within their own work environment. Taiichi Ohno highlights that those who are directly involved in the production process possess the best insights and understanding of their work, leading to more effective and practical standards when they are allowed to contribute to the decision-making process.
In practice
In a factory setting, when discussing how to improve processes, someone might quote this to highlight the importance of worker input.
The slower but consistent tortoise causes less waste and is more desirable than the speedy hare that races ahead and then stops occasionally to doze. The Toyota Production System can be realized only when all the workers become tortoises.
Where there is no Standard there can be no Kaizen
The key to the Toyota Way and what makes Toyota stand out is not any of the individual elements…But what is important is having all the elements together as a system. It must be practiced every day in a very consistent manner, not in spurts.
I’m proud to be Japanese and I wanted my country to succeed. I believed my system was a way that could help us become a modern industrial nation. That is why I had no problem with sharing it with other Japanese companies, even my biggest competitors.
If I had to pick my greatest strength as a football coach, I say it would be innovation.
You manage things, you lead people. We went overboard on management and forgot about leadership.
Power never takes a back step only in the face of more power.
You hear about actors being late and all that sort of stuff, but you never find that with an actor who's directed, because an actor who's directed understands all the problems your production is going through.
Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
Look to Africa, for there a king will be crowned.
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