From the Archives of a Common Sensei – Volume 1: PDCA

As an organically grown Lean Sensei, I have my childhood to thank for my training. Growing up in the home of one of the first American’s to be charged to instill the Toyota Production Systems (TPS) in North America, I grew up learning the “Culture” as part of my day-to-day life. As I grew older, I realized that my approach to most things in life were not the same as my peers. Like most children, I learned from my environment but, was not interested in “listening” to my parents. As an adult, the conversations began and I started to understand that I was applying TPS to nearly every activity in my life. Now well into my career, my father, Max Allway has retired and is sorting through his notes from the early days of TPS in the U.S. It is our intention to share those notes with you to reveal our Lean Foundations.

Enjoy

Volume 1: PDCA

Over the past 40 years or so, I have been fortunate enough to have learned from some of the first Toyota leaders in North America plus several of the leading consulting firms, and those clients we served, while advancing the principles of TPS, Lean, and Lean Six Sigma as a practitioner.  Now in retirement, it has occurred to me that a few of the original documents (often hand drafted) might be of interest to others who are currently wading through systemic and holistic problem solving.  This document is an early document used to inform the meaning of PDCA and set the stage for a different way of improvement thinking.

Max Allway