An internal Toyota document compiled in April 2001 under the direction of President fujio-cho. The first formal written codification of Toyota's management philosophy — distinct from and complementary to the production system.
Overview
Created because Toyota's "rapid growth, diversification and globalization" meant that values previously "passed on as implicit knowledge" needed explicit codification. The document was distributed in booklet form to all Toyota affiliates worldwide.
The framework rests on two pillars:
Continuous Improvement:
Respect for People:
Significance
The Toyota Way 2001 is the document jeffrey-liker's the-toyota-way (2004) attempts to codify for external audiences. Toyota established the Toyota Institute in January 2002 and regional training centers across six continents starting in 2003 to propagate these principles globally.
The document is significant for explicitly pairing "Continuous Improvement" with "Respect for People" as co-equal pillars. Many Western lean implementations focused exclusively on the improvement/efficiency dimension and neglected the people dimension — a gap the Toyota Way 2001 addresses directly.