Cost Reduction as Daily Operating Discipline

“Options mean more than new products and services. The creators of the Toyota Production System stress the importance of creating a company culture that constantly reduces costs, as a natural part of daily operations, while improving quality and shortening customer delivery span times. By keeping costs on a steady downward slope, they preserve pricing…”

“In any company, our notion of focus and direction should include the idea of continually studying and improving company systems. You will notice that this is implicit in the three examples above. I did not tell them what “good enough” was. If pressed, I’d probably say something like “Better than the current best and improving—strengthening our climate, eliminating unnecessary functions, simplifying, reducing waste, polishing our quality, and reducing cycle times that affect customers…” They would just know.”