science

Taiichi Ohno

Taiichi Ohno is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Taiichi Ohno rather than just read about it. In short: Ohno Taiichi (大野耐一, Ōno Taiichi; February 29, 1912 – May 28, 1990) was a Japanese industrial engineer and businessman. He is considered to be the father of the Toyota Production System, which inspired Lean Manufacturing in the U.S.

Key takeaways

Taiichi Ohno belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Taiichi Ohno to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Taiichi Ohno from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Ohno Taiichi (大野耐一, Ōno Taiichi; February 29, 1912 – May 28, 1990) was a Japanese industrial engineer and businessman. He is considered to be the father of the Toyota Production System, which inspired Lean Manufacturing in the U.S. He devised the seven wastes (or muda in Japanese) as part of this system. He wrote several books about the system, including Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production.

Life Born in 1912 in Manchuria, and a graduate of the Nagoya Technical High School (Japan), he joined the Toyoda family's Toyoda Spinning upon graduation in 1932 during the Great Depression thanks to the relations of his father to Kiichiro Toyoda, the son of Toyota's founding father Sakichi Toyoda. He moved to the Toyota motor company in 1943 where he worked as a shop-floor supervisor in the engine manufacturing shop of the plant, and gradually rose through the ranks to become an executive.

Influence Ohno's principles influenced areas outside of manufacturing, and have been extended into the service arena. For example, the field of sales process engineering has shown how the concept of Just In Time (JIT) can improve sales, marketing, and customer service processes.

See also Shigeo Shingo (新郷重雄, Shingō Shigeo) Just In Time (JIT) Lean manufacturing

Published works 大野, 耐一 (1978). Toyotaseisanhōshiki: Datsu kibo no keiei o mezashite トヨタ生産方式 : 脱規模の経営をめざして [Toyota Production System: Aiming for a shift away from scale management] (in Japanese). ダイヤモンド. JPNO 78019200. Ohno, Taiichi (1988). Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production. Productivity Press. ISBN 0-915299-14-3. 大野, 耐一 (1982). Ōno taiichi no genba keiei 大野耐一の現場経営 [Taiichi Ohno's on-site management] (in Japanese). 日本能率協会. JPNO 82055236. Ohno, Taiichi (1988). Workplace Management. Productivity Press. ISBN 0-915299-19-4. 大野, 耐一 (2001). Ōno taiichi no genba keiei 大野耐一の現場経営 [Taiichi Ohno's Workplace Management] (in Japanese) (新装 ed.). 日本能率協会. ISBN 4-8207-1582-8. JPNO 20176148. Ohno, Taiichi (2007). Taiichi Ohno's Workplace Management. Translated by Miller, Jon. Gemba Press. ISBN 0-9786387-5-1. Ohno, Taiichi (2012). Taiichi Ohno's Workplace Management (Special 100th Birthday ed.). McGraw Hill. ISBN 978-0-9786387-5-7.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Taiichi Ohno

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Taiichi Ohno claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Taiichi Ohno before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Taiichi Ohno ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Taiichi Ohno

In research: Taiichi Ohno appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Taiichi Ohno in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Taiichi Ohno is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1912 births, 1990 deaths, Japanese automotive pioneers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Taiichi Ohno outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Taiichi Ohno in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Taiichi Ohno means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Taiichi Ohno out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Taiichi Ohno in simple terms?

Why does Taiichi Ohno matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Taiichi Ohno?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Taiichi Ohno.