The Toyota Way of Dantotsu Radical Quality Improvement

by Sadao Nomura

In this book, author Sadao Nomura taps into his decades of experience leading and advising Toyota operations in a wide variety of operations to tell the story of radical improvement at Toyota Logistics & Forklift (TL&F). This book tells in great detail what the author did with TL&F, how they did it, and the dramatic results that ensued. TL&F has long been a global leader in its industry. TL&F is part of Toyota Industries Corporation, which was founded by Toyota Group founder Sakichi Toyoda almost 100 years ago. Sakichi Toyoda is legendary in the Lean community as the originator of the all-important "JIDOKA" pillar of TPS, which ensures 1) built-in quality and 2) respect for people through ensuring that technology works for people rather than the other way around. Although TL&F seemed to be performing well, insiders knew that, as the founding company of the Toyota group, it needed to do better, especially in the quality performance of its global subsidiary operations. But improvement would not be easy in a company that already prided itself in its history as an exemplar in providing highest quality products and services. In 2006, TL&F requested assistance from Sadao Nomura. The initial request was for Mr. Nomura to support quality improvement in three global operations that had become part of TL&F through US, Sweden, and France. Improvement was expected at these affiliates, but the dramatic nature of the improvement was not. Further, the improvement activities were so powerful that they were also instituted at the parent operations in Japan. Over a period of almost ten years, the company with the name most associated with product quality experienced quality improvement unparalleled in its history. "Dantotsu" means "extreme," "radical," or "unparalleled."

286 pages, Paperback

Published June 11, 2021

Reviews

[Woody Rousseau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinante histoire de comment Sadao Nomura a réussi dans plusieurs contextes complexes à améliorer significativement la qualité et à réduire les réclamations client avec une approche radicale de la qualité.
Les grandes lessons que je souhaite tester dans l’IT
- chaque défaut est analysé et une contremesure est implémentée dans la journée pour les défauts de production
- introduire les contraintes de production pendant la phase de design
- catcher les défauts lors de la phase de design, lorsque le rework se limite à éditer le design
- implémenter les 2S en priorité
- construire un vrai management visuel de la qualité en physique
- créer un rituel quotidien (Asaichi) pour échanger sur les défauts avec le CEO

[Bob Wallner · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I see Toyota Way on a title I'm instantly intrigued. There has been much written in recent years regarding the leadership and ideology behind Toyota, but few details on how they drive deep quality. So I was eager to read about the method that their Industrial Forktruck division has used. I have actually had the opportunity to tour one of the North American Forktruck plants and see their approach firsthand.

The first thing that I noticed is this book has a similar feeling to many of the earliest texts on improvement. Specifically the texts from authors like Shingo, Hirano, and others from the Productivity Press days. This book, rather than using wordsmithed paragraphs to demonstrate concepts, used photos and actual sheets to demonstrate how things are done. In the early texts, I understand why they did this, as translations were difficult but in Dantotsu it would have been appreciated to have a little more context as to why certain things were done.

I often wonder why no one has taken Shingo's masterpieces and put them into Kindle format so future generations will have access to many of these out-of-print masterpieces...I now understand. I use my Kindle to record notes and thoughts that I normally would write in the margins or dogear ... Dantotsu is formatted in such a way that, although not impossible, it is very difficult. Other issues with formatting include the inability to make text larger and keep it larger. I love reading on a treadmill, it keeps both my mind and body engaged, but with this text, it was not possible.

The final thing that I want to address is that early Toyota leaders let the world in to see their processes, including competitors. They did this because they knew if anyone copied the tools, as they did, they would not understand the meaning of getting there and would not be effective. Dantotsu appears to be written to be followed as a blueprint with very few exceptions. To me, this goes against Ohno-san's original TPS vision to continuously learn, not copy. Dr. Liker in his many books studying Toyota warns about copy-and-paste tactics that the American industry is known for.

I'll be honest, other than a few nuggets and some cool visuals, I did not care for this book. I try to implement one thing every time I read a new book, and with Dantotsu there was little I could put into practice today. Perhaps for a life-long Quality Assurance professional, there would be more to offer, but I would NOT recommend this to anyone looking to learn the basics of how the quality pioneers have implemented quality throughout every process.