In June 2023, with the cooperation of a local partner company, we held a TPS Implementation Dojo in Italy.

Date: June 2023, held in three locations
Content: TPS Implementation Dojo 1DAY (practical training using equipment and lectures)
Location: The first and second sessions were held in rented venues, and the third session was conducted at a steel plate company
Number of Participants: 62 in total (over three sessions)

At the TPS Implementation Dojo, participants learn about the general philosophy of manufacturing as practiced by Toyota, through both lectures and hands-on training.

In the improvement proposals, layouts and unique ideas were presented that one might not typically consider in Japan, highlighting the differences in manufacturing cultures in a positive way.

It’s possible that participants might imagine their own manufacturing processes and realize there might be more efficient methods available. However, by demonstrating various examples of improvements on-site, it is believed that a deeper understanding of TPS was achieved.

～Improvement Mindset at an Italian Steel Plate Company～

During the session held at the steel plate company, it began with the company’s top executive expressing a strong desire to “seriously pursue improvement” to the employees, ensuring that the intent was understood before starting.

There were individual differences among employees regarding their familiarity with creating standard work combination sheets.

However, there was a noticeable enthusiasm and an improvement mindset present.

～ Tri-lingual Simultaneous Interpretation～

At the second venue, participants from Italy, Austria, and Hungary were in attendance, and the TPS Dojo was conducted with tri-lingual simultaneous interpretation.

The event was conducted almost in real-time translation, allowing for smooth progress without issues despite being in three languages.

Despite being from Italy, Austria, and Hungary, with different countries and languages, there was little sense of difference in thinking observed among the participants.

Regarding the translation of materials, there were instances where the translation seemed to indicate a misunderstanding of TPS, prompting requests for corrections.
For example, in the documentation explaining “work sequences,” the translated version altered the diagram in such a way that it appeared as if steps in the process were skipped.
It was emphasized that in standard operations, it is crucial to perform tasks in a waste-free and efficient order. After explaining this, understanding was reached, and the materials were replaced with corrected versions.

TPS DOJO