(PCS Press: Vancouver, WA) -- It is amazing how time flies. It was December 1980 when I first started to write about the Toyota Production System in my newsletter, Productivity. In February 1981, I conducted my first two-week study mission to Japan, taking 19 top U.S. executives from ALCOA, American Can, Fort Howard Paper, Insilco, Oscar Meyer, Hoover Universal, Chesebrough-Ponds, Trane, A.O. Smith, Timken, Sierracin, and Rockwell International to visit 16 companies. The trip was a dynamic learning experience for everyone who went. It was both exhausting and thrilling to see what the Japanese were doing at the time to lead the manufacturing world in quality and productivity growth.

Lesson No. 1: Think long term

The travelers who went with me had many things to say about what they learned. They spoke of implementing systems for long-term improvement:

“It’s obvious that this is no instant Band-aid they [the Japanese] have applied. We Americans are very susceptible to fads—zero defects, MBO, zero-based budgeting. We learn the hustle, the disco—we can’t dance the same way for six months. Japan has developed a system. That’s what’s important.”

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