The first extensive English-language academic description of the Toyota Production System. Published in the International Journal of Production Research in 1977, co-authored by Toyota engineers including fujio-cho (who later became Toyota president and chairman). Full title: "Toyota Production System and Kanban System: Materialization of Just-in-Time and Respect-for-Human System."
The paper describes TPS as built on two pillars: just-in-time production and "respect for human system" — the latter being an early articulation of what would later be codified as the "respect for people" pillar of the Toyota Way (see toyota-way-2001-document). The technical description of the kanban system and its relationship to pull-production provides the engineering-level detail that Ohno's own writings deliberately omit.
Significant as the earliest systematic explanation of TPS for an international academic audience, predating Ohno's book by one year and Shingo's by four years. The same authors contributed to the 1973 internal TPS handbook.