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"Efficiency Way"
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Toyota Production System Coach | Lean…

Published Jul 12, 2023

https://www.hmoperationsmanagement.com/post/efficiency-way
When Taylor published “Scientific Management,” and the Gilbreths did “Motion Models,” these books
were translated quickly into Japanese (within one to three years). Unfortunately, these books didn’t sell
well. Sociologists translated those books, and they were too complicated to read.

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Then in 1917, Ikeda published a “novel” called “Secret of eliminating unnecessary steps,” based on
“Scientific Management.” It is a novel because the main character is called “Tarou,” and the story is about
his professional development story by implementing changes. He starts his profession as an operator,
then becomes a production engineer. He observes senior operators and starts to notice unnecessary
steps. He starts by sorting materials. He defines work sequence. He posted “Standard work cards.”
Many resistants happen (It’s a drama). The need for foremen to listen to the ideas each worker has.
🤣
“Promise chart” by purchasing and suppliers to avoid delay . Frequently, the word “Muda” is used.
Almost 70 years before the “Goal,” such a novel was published in Japan and became a huge hit. The
author claims he sold 1,000,000 copies (Not sure how true it is). Some companies, like Kawasaki Heavy
Industries, distributed free copies to all employees. [There is a portion in the beginning that explains
"Scientific Management," not as a novel]

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The success of the “Secret of eliminating unnecessary steps” triggered Japanese attention to “Scientific
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Management.” They started calling this an “Efficiency Study.” The pioneer of this movement was a
 phycologist named Youichi Ueno.
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Ueno got interested in “Scientific Management” when he was researching the phycology of workers.
Upon graduation from college, he traveled to the USA to learn directly from Gilbreth. One of his early
successes in reducing the production lead time, he changed the batch size from 100 to 20. In 1919, he
was head of the Industry Efficiency Research Center. The center started publishing magazines on this
topic. The movement eventually reached the academic to form a discipline called “Management” in
Japan. The organization still exists by changing forms and names; now, it is Sanno University. Later, he
focused more on the creativity of employees.

Ueno published “Efficiency Way and Lessons” in 1936, two years before Ohno started his reading. Ueno
intended to combine “Scientific Management” and Eastern philosophies. It consists of five ways and ten
lessons, a bit long but underlined in Japanese thinking, so that I will translate.

Five Way
Seiza; We promise to keep the correct postures. Correct contents require correct formats.
Seishoku; We eat properly. Food is the raw material of body and soul.
Seigaku; We study correctly. We should study both Eastern and Western and never become biased.
Seisin; We live in correct faith. Correct faith comes from all of the above.
Seigo; We use correct words. Correct way communicated by correct words.

Ten Lessons
All work must have its objective and target. We must establish these first. No motivation will develop
without those.
Select and execute the best methods that match the objectives and targets.
If the methods do not match the objectives and targets, those will generate Muda (Waste) and Muri.
Utilize all human, materials, money, time, and space to accomplish the objectives. Improper utilization
generates Muda and Muri.
The characteristics of Muda and Muri conflict with each other and become the cause of Mura.
Aggravating Mura becomes a disaster. Always improve Muda and eliminate Muri to reduce Mura.
Neglection leads to an unstable society.
Efficiency is about making the most out of all resources (Human, Material, Money) by reducing the Mura.
Things that make the most out of all resources (Humans, Materials, Money, Time, Space) will survive.
Those who kill those resources will die.
All works must follow these principles of efficiency. Otherwise, society will be unstable, and we will not
be happy.
For that purpose, all (Individuals, Families, Corporations, and other entities) must operate with efficiency
in mind.

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There are many interesting points to this, but I am most interested in the relationships of Muri, Mura, and
Muda. He says that to reduce Mura, we must challenge Muri and Muda, which is aligned with TPS. The
typical approach to Mura was to use calculations (allowances and averages). But isn’t such a calculation
“neglection” since the cause still exists? Focus on Muri and Muda to eliminate Mura is a powerful
message.

Ueno was featured in some management books outside of Japan due to his work on trying to combine
Scientific management and Eastern philosophies. It is important to note that in the early days of
Scientific management in Japan, an employee phycologist who cared about the well-being of the people
played a significant role. Forgetting this important process and focusing only on numbers and tools are
dangerous.

Fernando Boned Izuel 4h

Gestión de proyectos TPS/Kaizen

Always knowlegment. Thanks a lot.

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 Tom Jones 4h
Retired after 30 yrs at Toyota North America; TSSC & OMDD Join now Sign in
Interesting read and take on Mura. I think in a lot of cases Mura(unevenness) can result in Muri(overburden)
and Mura(waiting) although I know this is a simplistic explanation. Maybe in this case, it refers to instability in
demand. I am going to think deeply about Ueno’s way. I can see that overburden and waiting could also result
in unevenness but it may be a chicken and egg situation. Nice post!

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Chris Cooper 5h
LOCERN Limited: Board Level Transformation Coach, Author: Work 5.0, Little Book Of Lean, Co-Author: Winning By Design, Lea…

Love this history and connections - I was taught the Kawasaki Way which has led some to say I am a mongrel
because I am not ‘pure’ Toyota, to which I say “none of us are pure Taylor / Gilbreth / Woollard / Ford / Ohno
either”
The principles are universal and timeless…
It is the application of those principles which is the difference.
I always say “know why” is better than “know how”…
I love also the “happy accidents” where something is modified for local situations and turns into something
even better e.g. push to pull…
Self Help by Samuel Smiles was referenced by Sakichi Toyoda as a key text for him this is from a review of
that book on Amazon “I now understand why this book lead Sakichi Toyoda to invent the best automatic
weaving loom at that time.”
I recommend this to understand Toyoda’s fundamental philosophy.

Thanks 🙏 for the post

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Abraham (Bram) Beckers 5h

Business Process Transformation Professional: Supply Chain, IT, Logistics- & Real Time Supply Chain, self learning Robotization

Thanks for sharing this background information.

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Jerome T. 6h
Lean practitioner (TPS) and learner. I help IT Ops teams deliver right first time, on time, easier

An impressive piece of history, thank you Hide Oba. Was there ever an English translation ?

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