A Japanese Inventor. An Industrialist. And The Founder of Toyota Motor Corporation.

Known as the father of the Japanese industrial revolution and a major influencer of the time with his unique, newly penned methods of optimization, his legacy continues to this day across manufacturing operations of every kind.

Starting out in Tokyo in the early 1900’s, Sakichi devised and implemented both the 5 𝙒𝙝𝙮’𝙨 and the 5𝙎 𝙎𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢 which are used extensively as part of lean sixsigma processes the world over.

Entering the auto world for which he is best known, with his son working alongside him, his first production car the Toyoda AA was sold in 1936 - still under the Toyoda, not Toyota brand, though not long later, the success of the vehicle production was such that this part of the business split away and became known as Toyota.

The story has it that the main reason for spelling it with a “T” instead of a “D” is because the word Toyoda in Japanese uses 10 strokes of the pen to write, whereas Toyota only uses eight, and eight is considered to be a lucky number in Japanese culture.

Through his early work, his most famous invention was the automatic power loom in which he implemented the principle of 𝙅𝙞𝙙𝙤𝙠𝙖, or autonomous automation. The principle of Jidoka, is simply that a machine stops itself when a problem occurs to avoid wastage. This later became a part of the Toyota Production System (TPS) and in a similar way to his other methodologies is now globally renowned.

From those few early principles, such is their effectiveness still today that modern factories such as NS KUNSTSTOFFTECHNIK - CZ operation in Central Europe still utilize them to stay at the forefront of the plastic injectionmolding industry.  Ensuring problems are alleviated totally, or resolved quickly and permanently ensures quality, on-time production for each and every order.

Learn more about how they are used in real terms by speaking to the team at sales@nsk-cz.com