Abstract

Toyota’s continued performance has spurred interest beyond its production system in the factory to its development process. According to a NCMS report, Toyota’s product design process is far more effective than its main competitors and could be up to twice as fast and four times as productive as the norm at other automakers. Indepth studies of the development process have shown that it differs significantly from current development practices. In this paper, we argue that this process has to be understood in the light of an overall system, as opposed to piecemeal organizational solutions. We suggest a scaffolding to describe this process, underlying its four broad steps with a platform centre organization, a commitment to lean manufacturing, and an underlying investment in knowledge creation.