The Toyota Way is a systemic philosophy that enabled the slow, accumulative build up of the Toyota Production System - a series of related tools and techniques that have made Toyota THE manufacturing king.
The Toyota Way, in this book, is split into “the four Ps”: philosophy, process, people, and problem solving.
It is best to be selective with which processes you automate. If you haven’t worked out the process manually, then it will not be clear where automation is necessary.
Value is only valuable from the perspective of the customer. If the customer doesn’t find an activity valuable, then it is not. Waste is defined as any effort, time, or activity that does not produce value to the customer.
The heart of The Toyota Way is shrinking non-value-add activity. The same concept can be applied to writing. Lean sentences contain only meaningful words.
Traditional process improvement is focused on finding local efficiencies. LEAN process improvement is all about shrinking non-value-add activity.
One piece flow is the production of one unit at a time at a rate which perfectly matches customer demand. It is an ideal to strive for. It allows for the individual needs of a customer to be addressed, and eliminates lead time.