The paper aims to prove that Toyota Production System is the best benchmarking system to improve the efficiency and productivity of business. The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an integrated socio-technical system, developed by Toyota that comprises its management philosophy and practices. The TPS organizes manufacturing and logistics for the automobile manufacturer, including interaction with suppliers and customers. The system is a major precursor of the more generic “lean manufacturing”. Taiichi Ohno and Eiji Toyoda, Japanese industrial engineers, developed the system between 1948 and 1975.Originally called “just-in-time production”, it builds on the approach created by the founder of Toyota, Sakichi Toyoda, his son Kiichiro Toyoda, and the engineer Taiichi Ohno. The principles underlying the TPS are embodied in The Toyota Way. Toyota’s supplier development practises are analysed. The competitiveness of Toyota and the source of Toyota’s competitive strength and the way in which Toyota can be used for effective benchmarking is verified. The applicability of lean operation in retail pricing and operation strategy along with the strategies that helped to increase the capacity through TPS is evaluated for improving efficiency in production. For this, a mix of strategic methods are adopted through TPS by reducing the cost of product and judicious use of resources thereby playing the role of a responsible corporate citizen.
Keywords : Kaizen, Kanban, 5S, JIT, Taki-Time, Poka-Yoke.