What's curious is that few manufacturers have
managed to imitate Toyota successfully-even
though the company has been extraordinarily open
about its practices. Hundreds of thousands of executives
from thousands of businesses have toured
Toyota's plants in Japan and the United States.
Frustrated by their inability to replicate Toyota's
performance, many visitors assume that the secret
of Toyota's success must lie in its cultural roots.
But that's just not the case. Other Japanese companies,
such as Nissan and Honda, have fallen short
of Toyota's standards, and Toyota has successfully
introduced its production system all around the
world, including in North America, where the company
is this year building over a million cars, minivans,
and light trucks.