Sunday, December 4, 2016

The TPS Evolution - Generation 3



Happy Holidays everyone!  It's hard to believe we are closing in on the end 2016, what a year!  We look forward to 2017 leading and learning with everyone.

We apologize for not having a monthly cadence with the blog, but our book writing has taken precedence over our spare time the past several months, we look forward to sharing it with everyone in May of 2017.   We do have a 40% off pre-sales link on Amazon if you would like to grab one before they are full price click here!  The Toyota Engagement Equation

We wanted to end the year with a blog regarding TPS Generation 3.  We bring it up in the last chapter of our book as "our" latest version of what TPS (Toyota Production System) means to us now and how our customers have evolved us and our thinking over the years.

When we were introduced to TPS at Toyota back in the late 80's it represented the Toyota Production System, which was understandable at the time since TMMK was the first wholly owned plant for Toyota Motor Corp.  We were part of something very unique and the infamous TPS house allowed us to translate the tools of the production system into our daily activities.   Our trainers relentlessly coached us to think differently.

As we grew as people and as an organization we realized internal and even external to Toyota that organizations that were trying to replicate TPS, that it wasn't as much about Toyota persay as it was the thinking behind the systems at Toyota.   As time went on and some of the original trainers retired, a new group of trainers evolved and I often heard them refer to TPS (Gen 2) as the "Thinking Production System".   In it's essence it is really true, we were always asked to think deeply about all the "systems running" in the background that created our climate or culture.   There was a deep infrastructure reliant upon thinkers, as we discuss in the book E3 - we were always striving for the ideal state of Everybody-Everyday-Engaged!!  

As Ernie and I both grew in our roles after Toyota, spending countless hours studying how best to share and translate what we learned in those early years and how it allowed us to be the people we are today - that being 2 sponges!  We are always soaking up as much knowledge as possible, to help individuals think better not only for themselves personally and professionally, but also be the change agent or the "model home" for their organizations.   I know that was our goal at Toyota to always create a pull for learning through example, not a push.

As the years have past and we continue to grow as people and coaches we learned there may be a next generation for TPS for us.  (This is a Tracey and Ernie'ism!) - As we mentioned it is more than just Toyota in Gen 1, its also much deeper than Gen 2 with just "thinking".  We would like to share our thoughts for TPS Gen 3 --- The "Thinking People System"!!  Our sole purpose when we visit a client/customer is to begin to encourage people to think differently about what they do everyday.  So we feel its fitting to evolve TPS to fit any organization that have people, processes, and problems.  It can translate very well for you!   So when you refer to TPS you can think about its foundational background, build on that and go to the essence of its creation!  Thinking People~~!!

Until next time,
Happy Holidays and New Year
Tracey and Ernie Richardson
@Tracey_san