A New #1

Yesterday, it was announced that Toyota has become the biggest car maker in the World - a title formerly held by General Motors - for 76 years....

Not only does Toyota sell more cars than anyone else, it is the most profitable. And it has the largest cash reserves of any auto maker.

If you want to know how David beat Goliath, I refer you to one of my favorite books. "The Toyota Way" by Jeffrey Liker.

There is no magic bullet here. Toyota has done something that's not easy to copy. They built a corporate culture dedicated to the relentless elimination of waste. This isn't something that's executed on a project by project basis. It's done everyday, everywhere.

I was speaking to a friend's MBA class recently. I asked the group, "How many of you currently have Lean Projects underway?" More than half the class raised their hands. I then asked "Are these just projects or do you do this everyday?" The unanimous answer was that they were projects.

And I'm guessing that's a pretty typical response. Until we can build a passion for efficient processes and wage a continuous war against waste, companies like Toyota will continue to eat our lunch.