Abstract:

For more than twenty years, the Production Systems of automotive manufacturers started to be adopted on a larger scale by all type of companies, from FMCG (Fast-moving consumer goods) manufacturers, to services industry, education, medical and more and more by public institutions.The efficiency proven by the automotive sector appeared very attractive and a process of adaptation to own needs followed as an important preoccupation for the companies. They hired specialists and engineers in Lean manufacturing, Quality Management and Six Sigma, having as main objective to reach the expected productivity. There were companies failing rapidly because of lack of flexibility, trying to apply the Copy-Paste method. Understanding these principles and the DNA is essential to any effort of transferring such system. But beyond that, what really matters in successful deployment is the customer focus culture that Toyota has created and fostered (Gunasekaran, 2010). Therefore, the first conclusion was clear: just replicating a system from one company to another appears ineffective without taking into account local specifics and culture. The word “adaptation” started to be used more frequently and soon this was the main challenge. The organization culture is the critical enabler in replicating the Toyota Production System (Mann, 2005).