Taikoh Transportation – Factory Tour
Taikoh Transportation is a Toyota Group logistics company that delivers products to Toyota as well as other automakers such as Subaru, Suzuki and Yamaha. The company is the first company that established a procurement logistics system based on the Toyota Production System in Japan.
Corporate Information
- Company: Taikoh Transportation Co., Ltd.
- Foundation: 1943
- Location: Headquartered in Aichi Prefecture
- Main Business: Procurement transportation and logistics
Taikoh Transportation – Lean Characteristics
TPS-based Logistics
Taikoh Transportation is a logistics company that delivers products to Toyota, Subaru, Suzuki, Yamaha and many other customers’ final assembly operations. They cover Japan across 20 locations, but 13 of those are concentrated in the area of Aichi Prefecture. Their parent company is Toyota Industries Corporation – the original Toyota company that started in the textiles industry well before the automotive company was born.
In the Toyota Group, Taikoh Transportation and around four other logistics companies act as a staging mid-point between all of Toyota’s first-tier suppliers and their final assembly plants. The concept of the staging base was introduced in an effort to increase the frequency of deliveries to Toyota from their first-tier suppliers and thus decrease the inventory levels within each of the Toyota final assembly plants. This is part of Toyota’s kaizen approach spreading outside of production and into their logistics operations in an evolutionary step that still fully incorporates the Toyota Production System – including their kanban pull system of material and information flow.
A visit to Taikoh Transportation site showcases TPS applications at work in the field of transportation and logistics.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Thank you for the well-organized and informative tour. It can be distracting to read and attend lectures about lean, but when combined with practical training and actual visits to the home of lean, it helps to clarify and connect all the dots. The tour was an eye-opening experience where we witnessed lean manufacturing principles in…
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Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
During my bachelor’s degree I studied TPS and lean extensively but having the theoretical knowledge is very different to actually seeing it and getting the chance to implement it in the practical center. I have enjoyed my time during the tour and learned a lot about how TPS is actually implemented. The tour was very…
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Towson, Maryland, United States
The whole experience of the lean tour was excellent. I learned so much over the past week and all of my previous knowledge of lean was reinforced. Not only did I learn about lean management but I was also impressed with the Japanese culture. The whole team at Shinka Management were very helpful and made…
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Valmiera, Latvia
The Lean Japan Tour program organised by Shinka Management is a fantastic experience for those involved in business and production. It inspires people to make changes for the better and to more effectively organize production regardless of the industry they represent.
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Lumut, Brunei
The tour shows how industries in Japan do continuous improvement in their respective companies. I think that such concepts could also be applied in other industries as well when applied correctly within its own framework. The tour also showcases some aspects of Japanese culture which I appreciate a lot as it provides insight into the…
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Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
A high quality, professional and first-hand experience of how just-in-time and lean are mastered. Great for professional development and a genuine motivator to go further using the lean tools available. A marvelous cultural experience.
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The Shinka Management Lean Japan Tour is a professional development program run several times annually. The program includes a mix of lean and kaizen seminars, hands-on lean training and visits to several benchmark lean companies. For further information and program dates, see the lean tour overview page.
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