What Does toyotism Mean
Toyotism refers to a mode of chain production that replaced Fordism in the early 1970s . To understand the concept, therefore, you have to know what the idea of chain production refers to .
This process consists of using an assembly line or assembly line . In this way, each of the workers performs a single function without traveling, eliminating downtime and favoring specialization.
Fordism, in this context, aimed to reduce costs and increase production. Thanks to the quantity of goods produced, supply increases, prices fall and the market expands (since more people can access the goods).
As for Toyotism, it is a method of organizing the times in the industry that introduces changes to Fordism. Its promoter was Taiichi Ohno , a Toyota engineer .
Toyotism is committed to avoiding actions that are not necessary. Based on the precept of "just in time" (or "just in time" , in English), Toyotism seeks to produce only what it needs and at the precise moment it is needed. Thus work becomes more flexible and mechanization loses its preponderance.
In other words: while Fordism aimed to mass produce and store goods, Toyotaism aims to start producing when the good is already sold. In other words, the order is received first and then production is carried out . For the mechanism to be successful, it is essential to avoid delays (due to bureaucracy, errors, damage to equipment, etc.).
Toyotism was one of the fundamental pillars of the production system in Japan and, after the first oil crisis , little by little it was replacing Fordism as a reference for chain production. This oil crisis took place since August 23, 1973 as a result of the decision by OPEC ( Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries ) not to continue exporting oil to countries that had been on the side of Israel in the Yom Kippur War, in which he faced Syria and Egypt.
The flexibility of Toyotism has several advantages over Fordism and is reflected in an increase in productivity with respect to the methods used so far, both those that generated deadlocks within the chain by keeping several employees inactive in a cyclical way like those who opted for non-stop work to occupy until the last second of each shift with specialized production .
This Japanese model of chain production was responsible for the industry of the country of the rising sun to go from a state of underdevelopment to occupy a position of world power in a few decades. In its essence are certain principles that managed to reverse the reigning crisis in Fordism:
* constant rotation of workers to fill various roles and great flexibility ;
* promote teamwork instead of isolated activity, to improve performance through the incentive that arises from exchange, and the self-enrichment of learning from others;
* The just-in-time system , mentioned above, manages to revalue the relationship between the time required to produce an article and its circulation. In addition, the winery is no longer necessary, given this form of production that is always close to stock 0 , which also reduces the costs necessary to store merchandise;
* Product prices can be lowered due to savings during the manufacturing process, increasing sales and reaching lower-income social classes.