Analysis of the Toyota Production System and the genesis of Six Sigma programs: An imperative for understanding failures in technology management culture transformation in traditional manufacturing companies

The principles of the Toyota Production System (TPS), or Lean manufacturing, are well known in the auto manufacturing industry. Many companies, utilizing aspects of the TPS focus on creating higher quality products and, at the same time, less waste in ever increasingly competitive global markets. Since the advent of Six Sigma programs, many companies have identified themselves as being a Lean manufacturer or a Six Sigma company, and in some cases both. This study explores the root of the TPS and how the Six Sigma programs represented today are simply a re-branding of Statistical Process Control (SPC), which was incorporated in the TPS from the work of Shewhart and Deming in the earlier half of the last century. Furthermore, an exploration of the tools and behaviors utilized in the TPS that do not appear in Six Sigma programs will show the limitations associated with a narrow improvement program based solely on Six Sigma technology management practices. Finally, a proposed behavioral management model for understanding the layers of tools and actions necessary to deploy a comprehensive TPS-style manufacturing enterprise is presented.