Toyota pioneered the just-in-time manufacturing system that became a foundation of lean manufacturing in the 1950s.
The approach developed inside Toyota after World War II, when Japan’s limited capital, space, and materials made large inventories and long production runs impractical. Engineer Taiichi Ohno and Toyota leaders including Eiji Toyoda refined a system that produced only what was needed, when it was needed, and in the required quantity. The method relied on close coordination between processes and pull signals such as kanban.
Toyota Production System was broader than just-in-time production. Its two central ideas are usually described as just-in-time and jidoka, or automation with a human touch. Jidoka meant stopping a process when a defect appeared, so problems were corrected rather than passed down the line. Continuous improvement, standardized work, and waste reduction were also essential.
The term “lean manufacturing” became widely known after Western researchers studied Toyota and popularized the system in the 1980s and 1990s. Toyota did not invent every ingredient—Ford-style flow production and supermarket replenishment influenced its development—but Toyota assembled them into the distinctive production system associated with lean manufacturing.