Abstract

Productivity in the service sector trails manufacturing by a wide margin. Since the early 1990s, the Toyota Production System (TPS) has been heralded as the standard for manufacturing environments, but early attempts to apply it to nonproduction work failed. That's when the University of Toyota intervened with lean thinking principles that accommodate the conceptual application required by dynamic and complex knowledge work. As in manufacturing, the elimination of waste in knowledge work is an important consideration. Two other lean knowledge goals are creating flow and achieving mastery. By managing mastery of new knowledge, opportunities are created to increase personal resources, successfully meet new challenges, and refine thinking and reflection skills. A sidebar article defines the Toyota Production System's value-to-waste ratio.