What is the name of the manufacturing philosophy developed by Toyota?
Answer
Toyota Production System
Answer
Toyota Production System
What is the name of the manufacturing philosophy developed by Toyota? It is the Toyota Production System, commonly abbreviated TPS.
TPS is Toyota’s integrated approach to manufacturing, logistics, quality control, and problem-solving. It developed gradually after the Second World War through the work of Toyota engineers and managers, especially Taiichi Ohno and Eiji Toyoda. The system was designed for efficient production despite limited resources and changing customer demand.
Its two best-known pillars are just-in-time production and jidoka, often translated as “automation with a human touch.” Just-in-time means making what is needed, when it is needed, and in the amount needed. Jidoka means stopping or correcting a process when a problem appears, rather than passing defects onward.
Kanban is a signaling tool used within pull-based production, not the name of the entire philosophy. Lean manufacturing is the broader term later adopted by many organizations, while Six Sigma is a separate quality-management methodology. TPS helped inspire lean manufacturing but is not interchangeable with either term.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026