One tool used by Toyota to speed up its product development is the 0obeya Room, 0obeya (from the word for room in Japanese, pronounced oh-beya) is, indeed, a big room, set up to accommodate the entire team for one new product project (usually containing people from marketing and sales, engineering, logistics, planning, design, and production) In the center of the Oobeya room is the prototype (a model, mock-up, or drawing) that encourages communi cation among team members, and helps the team visualize the product and identify potential problems early. All around the room are boards that guide discussion of the product project These would include