Shigeo Shingo, Chief of Industrial Engineering (who trained the company’s industrial engineers in the time that they built the Toyota Production System), explained that the key to the success of the production system was SMED – the Single Minute Exchange of Dies – which allowed them to run many different products on the same production line, and eliminated many kinds of waste.
Company executives ascribe their success to following the 14 principles of the Toyota Way (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Toyota_Way).
Why do you suppose that these might not be compelling answers for US Auto Industry Executives?
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