Agile Production-Lean Production in the Toyota Model

The software industry has been developing for decades, and the development process has changed from generation to generation. It is estimated that the next generation will be agile soon. Since I started to contact agile development, I have a question in my mind: is agile development related to traditional manufacturing? Does it come from traditional industries? It was not until I recently read a series of articles about the Toyota model that I found the answer.

The core of Toyota's production model is lean production, which can be viewed as a spirit of eliminating waste, reducing costs, and improving efficiency. It is always based on the systemic thinking of enterprises.

1. See the factory organization. Full-time staff outside the assembly line do not create value. They place the tasks of cleaning the site, tool minor repairs, and quality inspection in the production team, allowing these groups to regularly discuss and improve the process. This clearly maps to agile development to break the silo, instead of the team development model. Development, testing, BA, and documentation within the team can all work closely together, while constantly discussing how to find the most appropriate operating mode and pace.

2. supply relationship. Toyota is no longer in a contract relationship with the partner, but in exchange with each other, exchange funds (mutual shareholding), and implement its own production model. This is the story of the famous pig and chicken in agile.

3. Multiple Varieties and small batches. This is because the market demand is becoming more and more diversified, and the Supply speed is increasingly demanding. So is agility the most important thing to do is to deal with such problems? We need to constantly generate stories or features so that the po or customers can use them and get feedback, rather than making them for half a year. When we come out of the dark room, the world is different.

4. fully meet customer needs. Produce by order and include retailers in the production and development plan. Instead of forcibly pushing your goods to retailers, the retailer is used as a buffer. What we emphasize in agility is that everything is demand, and developers cannot use any excuse to weaken the demand.

From the above content, we can see that Toyota's lean production and agile processes in our software development are very similar in principle and purpose.