Toyota itself is not against the spread of these ideas

Who has not heard of the "Toyota production system" Judging by the number of manufacturers seeking inspiration, this method of organization is today almost fallen in the public domain. Over a long time period, from the mid-1950s to the 1970s, the then very discreet Japanese manufacturer patiently turned Japanese factories, to move from a logic of mass production to a customer-oriented organization.

Outputs are a few simple ideas, but to explain the formidable industrial efficiency of the Toyota machine: Hunt the waste on the strings, producing just necessary, and put the gains resulting, in financial terms and numbers, the service of growth and development of the company. A virtuous circle first called "toyota production system" (GST), and then more and more generically, "lean management", from a book by James Womack, researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), released in 1990.

"The shelves of libraries in organizational issues are drowning of works on the GST, widely galvaudées." And consulting firms that provide training on these issues abound. Toyota itself is not against the spread of these ideas. "But the real secret is the installation of the concept of"lean manufacturing", to which must be a true expertise in the field", explains Daniel Marco, CEO-founder of Géolean, a company he launched two years ago to focus on this issue. Former Director of the Faurecia production system, it swept into this breach, after to be impregnated with the Toyota model, the Japan and in Britain, mid-1990s.

Interestingly, his young company (2.5 million in sales its first year, 12 employees), who has already worked for 150 factories in the world, has half of its customers in the automotive (including Audi) and the rest in very varied sectors: Aeronautics, electricity, transport-handling, agricultural machinery, electronics. "With other lines to travel to Seattle, GST, Boeing has a certain ahead of Airbus for several years", he explains. Working in a number of European countries, including the Germany, the Poland, the Italy, Great Britain, or even the Slovenia, considers having no direct competitor on the niche of the installation of these methods. "The purchase of machines or the geographic location of a site is not an element of differentiation from the competition." However, the "lean manufacturing" is. "And a change in industrial method allows more quickly to a new product on the market," he says. Whatever the sector, the approach is similar: "The customer is that Toyota had to make when it changed its plants in the Japan."

Production "multisilhouette".

It is above all closer to parts to get close to the "edge of line", just under the hand of the operators. The way: the famous "kanban". Powered by a set of small tubes and small racks mounted on mobile pebbles, the head of each step may indicate the need of the parts in the previous step. This kind of "fuel gauge" allows to bring strained flow, more references parts different everything about the chain. "With productivity, manufacturers can thus spend several different vehicles on the same line, and adopt a"multisilhouette"production," explains Daniel Marco. Open economies allow reinvestment of cash in innovation, and build factories less expensive over time, according to him.

Simple in appearance, the Toyota method began late emulate. Thus, according to several consultants in organisation, PSA French learned in contact with the Japanese, by building their common plant in Kolin (Czech Republic), opened the year last to make the Aygo, C1 and 107. "A real shock: PSA realized that there was a real gap", says one of them. The home of Peugeot and Citroën would seek to transpose these virtuous methods in its French factories, but the movement would still in its infancy.