トヨタの仕事の仕方8ステップ
1. 問題を明確にする
2. 問題をブレイクダウンする
3. 達成目標を決める
4. 真因を考え抜く
5. 対策を立てる
6. 対策をやりぬく
7. 結果とプロセスを評価する
8. 成果を定着させる
And you may go “Woah…I don’t know Japanese – what’t this all about?”
All of this simply translates to:
The 8 steps of the Toyota way of working:
1) Clarify the problem
Unless you know what the problem is you cannot even begin to solve it. State your problem and keep it simple.
An example: “The inventory is too unwieldy to manage.”
2) Breakdown the problem
Good things come in small packages. So when you break down the problem into smaller chunks, those pieces begin to get to be more manageable. Handling 10 customer complaints is more easily achievable than managing a 100 of them.
3) Set the target to be achieved
Being SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound) applies here. Extending the above example: Handle 10 customer complaints within the next 2 business days.
4) Think through to the true cause
Eliminating the source of the problem results in the problem not growing any more and prevents it from recurring. Brainstorm, talk around the water cooler, exchange ideas – get to the root cause(s).
5) Develop countermeasures
Now that you have identified the problem and what’s causing it devise the method to tackle the problem. e.g. Don’t restock without checking inventory levels.
6) Follow through on the countermeasures
Make sure you are on top of things. There is no point coming out with plans and strategies if you don’t implement them and follow through.
7) Evaluate the result and the process
Sometimes what we think is the right thing may not be so. Therefore its very important to step back and objectively review the process at regular intervals and tweak and change them if necessary.
8) Make sure the results take hold
This may seem like stating the obvious, but you obviously need to see to it the problem is resolved and does not recur.
There you go – 8 very simple and straightforward problem solving steps! Toyota swears by it and we have tried it, it works!
