Standards should not be forced down from above but rather set by the production workers themselves.
Interpretation
Production workers should have a say in setting their own standards for work.
This quote emphasizes the importance of empowering production workers to define the standards and practices within their own work environment. Taiichi Ohno highlights that those who are directly involved in the production process possess the best insights and understanding of their work, leading to more effective and practical standards when they are allowed to contribute to the decision-making process.
In practice
In a factory setting, when discussing how to improve processes, someone might quote this to highlight the importance of worker input.
The slower but consistent tortoise causes less waste and is more desirable than the speedy hare that races ahead and then stops occasionally to doze. The Toyota Production System can be realized only when all the workers become tortoises.
Where there is no Standard there can be no Kaizen
The key to the Toyota Way and what makes Toyota stand out is not any of the individual elements…But what is important is having all the elements together as a system. It must be practiced every day in a very consistent manner, not in spurts.
I’m proud to be Japanese and I wanted my country to succeed. I believed my system was a way that could help us become a modern industrial nation. That is why I had no problem with sharing it with other Japanese companies, even my biggest competitors.
As a leader, you will never get ahead until your people are behind you.
Smart people instinctively understand the dangers of entrusting our future to self-serving leaders who use our institutions, whether in the corporate or social sectors, to advance their own interests.
Never break the neutrality of a port or place, but never consider as neutral any place from whence an attack is allowed to be made.
The important thing is that your teammates have to know you're pulling for them and you really want them to be successful.
You think that the heads of state only have serious conversations, but they actually often begin really with the weather or, 'I really like your tie.'
Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team.
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