15: 1977-82: Build-in Quality in the Process

Quality checks must be done at a 100% level. If you send a defective product on to the next process, the equipment at the next process and at your own process will not run. If you just forget the quality check...

16: 1979-83: Real Time Management and Time Based Management That Do Not Tolerate for Errors

Even if 10 minutes pass and the cell does not start, the responsible section manager dashes to the site, and if 30 minutes pass and the cell does not start, the plant director dashes to the site...

17: 1978-81: We were able to make a presentation at a national conference on advanced use of PCs in business (at the Osaka Teijin Hall) that we were targeting the reduction of administrative work related to information on production to zero and to releasing our staff from the work they had been doing to work on Kaizen in the factory

We gathered all of the staff in the factory and asked them what their true work was, and what kind of work brings out the true value of a human being...

18: 1979-81: Tickle System, Spiral Up

The computer automatically sent a message saying, "The countermeasures last time did not solve the problem. You need to come up with a real solution."

19: 1982-83: We developed robots that worked with operators, reduced operators' workloads and made their tasks easier.

Robots were introduced as manpower saving devices, but instead of manpower saving devices, I wanted to make robots that could help operators do their jobs...

13: 1976-81: Plant with one-piece-flow (one-piece-at-a-time) production fully developed.
1978: We announced our challenge to establish one-piece-flow production at the All Japan IE Association Conference (at Sankei Hall in Tokyo).
Appeared in IE Magazine (The Challenge of One-piece-flow Production.)

One worker said it was fun to create one-piece-flow production, but he didn't enjoy working there very much. I thought about it deeply and realized that it was inhumane to make workers keep on doing repetitive tasks without thinking...