Toyota was the first manufacturer to introduce production. This uses a range of techniques to waste and to improve productivity. All the employees are expected to be committed to meaning continuous improvement. Workers are grouped into , each with responsibility for a certain part of the production process. This is known as . Workers are trained to do a range of tasks and become . They also receive to improve their team skills. The workers have authority to make decisions relating to their own work also known as . Some producers have introduced , which involves breaking the production line into separate unit each making an identifiable part of the finished product instead of having a flow production line.
Workers often meet in groups regularly to discuss ways of solving problems and to make suggestion for improvement. These are known as .