
14 ◾ Lean Production Simplified, Third Edition
suppliers. Six groups of seven were established, each with a team leader.
Each group was asked to conduct one major kaizen per month with the
assistance of OMCD. The executives of the other groups reviewed the results
and made suggestions. Toyota compelled the transformation by demanding
continual price reductions in part costs every year. In this way the Toyota
system permeated the entire supply chain by the end of the 1970s.
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OMCD continues to serve as a consulting group to Toyota plants and
suppliers around the world. In 1993 Ohno protégé Hajime Ohba became
general manager of the Toyota Supp ...