When visiting a well-run business and seeing smiles of prosperity, it’s very inspiring to those who struggle with organizing.
A few years ago, it was my honor to speak at a conference for the Continual Improvement of Business Operations.
For our contribution, speakers received a special tour of the near-by Toyota plant, considered the “gold standard” for a well-run business. To be sure, that tour was not only inspiring, but confirmation that great systems work!
Most compelling was the unforgettable smiles on the faces of workers as they effortlessly performed their duties. In fact, not only were we treated to their smiles of prosperity, but welcoming waves from some workers, as the production line moved steadily along from one workstation to the next.
Now, that’s what I call a symphony of order!
However, you may be thinking, Toyota is “big-business” and has massive resources and brain power to build such a systemized production facility. And you would be right! But, that wasn’t always the case.
World War 2 | A New Beginning for Toyota Order
After the devastation of World War 2, the Japanese company Toyota was a small manufacturer of “not-so-great cars” with poor operating systems. In fact, even with financial and labor problems looming they earnestly began searching for solutions.
This was the beginning of the “Toyota Production System.” Whereby, they became known worldwide for QUALITY!
Toyota didn’t use the excuse of war devastation to stop them. Important to consider is, they used that chaos for motivation for seeking the road to success. They found it!
With this background, any small business owner with a commitment to order and quality will witness their own smiles of prosperity when fixing their problems one system at a time.
There is NO EXCUSE for disorder in business! Especially when there are great tools to shorten the journey to smiles of prosperity.
How do I know?
In short, touring the award-winning Toyota plant was inspirational, but more importantly, our own lean efforts were CONFIRMED!
At one point on the tour, our Toyota tour guide shared with us their newly introduced system for keeping managers’ work desks organized. To my joyful amazement, we had already implemented a system we called the 100% System of Cleanliness in every area of our business, including DESKS! Confirmation!!
Did I mention, great systems work for big and small businesses!
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