By the 1970s, car production in Europe and America was huge. Demand was high and cars were mass-produced on an enormous scale. But when demand changed, and mass production methods didn't thousands of unsold vehicles sat outside the factories waiting to be bought. In Japan however, things were different.
The Toyota Production System (TPS) was developed in the middle of the last century by a Toyota manager named Tiichi Ohno. It created the most efficient car production system in the world. Instead of using machines that built only one specific part, Toyota designed machines that could produce many different parts. This made Toyota more flexible and able to react quickly to customers'changing needs.