September 02, 2025

A Toyota Take on Taking TPS to Others

47 minutes

Josh Howell and Mark Reich, LEI President and Chief Engineer Strategy, respectively, speak with Jamie Bonini, President of the Toyota Production System Support Center (TSSC), a not-for-profit corporation affiliated with Toyota Motor North America. Since 1992, TSSC has shared Toyota know-how with more than 500 small- to mid-sized companies, government entities, and non-profits.

This week’s discussion kicks off a month of The Management Brief content around the role of continuous improvement (CI) groups in lean management. As the leader of TSSC, Jamie interacts with many organizations’ CI groups as they apply basic concepts of the Toyota Production System (TPS) and helps others develop CI groups for that objective.

Prior to Toyota, Jamie worked at Chrysler and DaimlerChrysler, spending a decade applying TPS there and believing he understood it well. “I was absolutely stunned and amazed by how much more there was to TPS than I was able to learn by reading externally and even working with former Toyota people that were helping us when I was at Chrysler and DaimlerChrysler.” While at TSSC he’s found there is often a similar big gap in what those outside of Toyota think of TPS — frequently narrower than the Toyota approach of developing “a culture of highly engaged people that are solving problems and innovating to drive performance.”

On the podcast Jamie discusses:

Toyota’s internal CI group: Operations Management Development Division (OMDD) works with plants, suppliers, logistics, dealers, and other entities connected to Toyota for TPS support work and to develop people (“TPS is 80% hands-on learn by doing, experiential learning, it’s learning through practice,” says Jamie). OMDD also will be involved by adding resources needed for quick-hit plant changes as well as new plant design and layout.

Differences between OMDD and TSSC: OMMD focuses mostly, but not exclusively, on the technical tools and practices of TPS because the Toyota Way philosophy and the managerial roles and structures are regularly reinforced throughout the automaker and its partners. Outside of Toyota, TSSC must address not only the technical side but the philosophy and managerial aspects (design of the organization) of TPS.

Perspective of CI groups: When Jamie started with Chrysler, just as TPS and lean was becoming known, most organizations did not have CI groups. Today most have established some form of CI group, and “now the need for that function is recognized and staffed.” The CI groups today, however, typically are a training and coaching support function (needed and helpful), “but, in most cases, I think more can be done.” There is an overemphasis on “tools to be installed” and not enough emphasis on a building a culture of highly engaged people to solve problems and working with very senior leaders to solve problems.

Building capability in leaders and managers: As TSSC works on a nine- to 12-month pilot project with an organization to achieve a specific business result, it’s also developing leaders who can then sustain and spread TPS. During that time senior executives undergo a three- to four-day workshop where they solve actual problems on the frontline and learn how to coach problem solving. “Almost all the time we get the same feedback, which is, ‘Wow. We have a lot more problems out there than I had realized that can be solved. There’s a lot more improvement tension than I realized. This problem-solving method is pretty simple ... but the actual practice is difficult. If we want our people to be able do this type of problem solving on a regular basis, we’re really going to have to provide management that is going to support and develop them in that.”

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