Toyota’s public page describes a way of making things whose aim is to remove waste and find efficient methods. It names two pillars. 1
Toyota's own line is to make only what is needed, when it is needed, and in the amount needed. The page credits that idea to Kiichiro Toyoda. It says a car is more than 30,000 parts, from Toyota and from partners, kept moving in one flow. [^1]
Toyota glosses jidoka as automation with a human touch. When something is wrong, the machine stops, or a person pulls a cord, so a bad piece is not passed on. A board called an andon lights up to call someone. The page traces the idea to Sakichi Toyoda's loom, which could judge its own work. [^1]
The Toyota page just cited describes one process taking parts from the process before it. It does not use the word kanban. Christoph Roser writes that the first signal was a scrap of paper, and that the name came later. That naming is his account. [^2]
On the same Toyota page, the words for what daily improvement is meant to remove are muda, mura, and muri. Waste, inconsistency, and unreasonable requirements. The page does not list seven kinds of waste. That list is not hung here. [^1]
A fixed count of five is not on the Toyota page we read. What is in print is Minoura's memory, told to IndustryWeek, that Ohno wanted the people in the circle to ask why again and again. [^3]
IndustryWeek uses that phrase for the circle, and glosses it as go and see. The Toyota production page, in the text we read, does not use those words. [^3]
On that Toyota page Ohno is one of four people. With strong backing from Eiji Toyoda, it says, he helped establish the system and the basic frame of Just-in-Time. Eiji is credited with seeing jidoka and Just-in-Time through, so Toyota could compete with firms in Europe and the United States. 1
Toyota Production System. Toyota Motor Corporation. 2026. https://global.toyota/en/company/vision-and-philosophy/production-system/. Retrieved 28 October 2026. ↩ ↩2