Inspiration in the Dairy Aisle
Dispatch 007
Toyota Motor Corporation’s unlikely start began in 1926 as the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works. After a national naming competition Toyoda would be renamed Toyota Motor, and would build itself into the envy of manufacturers around the world. A result of necessity, not design.
Post World War Two, the Japanese economy was in shambles. Manufacturers like Toyota were trying to rebuild a nation while competing with global titans like Ford. Toyota had zero capital to invest. Competing with the American titans of industry took cash. With empty coffers, Toyota was destined to be an “also ran” in the auto industry.
Enter Taiichi Ohno, an unlikely hero who found inspiration in unlikelier places. Ohno ran the machine shop at Toyoda/Toyota. In 1948 he was given the impossible task. Compete with Ford but on the cheap.
When I say cheap - I mean seriously cheap. One of his revolutionary concepts (no joke, it is revolutionary) was to draw a chalk circle by a manufacturing process, have a leader stand in the circle and watch the process for hours. He named this “Stand in a circle.” (Thankfully Ohno stayed out of the marketing side of the business) Ohno was willing to look for inspiration anywhere.
His unlikeliest of inspirations came in the dairy section.
Supermarkets in the United Statues had developed means of storage that solved multiple problems:
- Dairy has a short shelf life
- Stocking dairy cases blocked customers
- Expensive electricity was wasted keeping cooler doors open
To solve these issues, low tech gravity fed racks move bottles of milk forward when you pull one out. This simple approach to "first in first out” solves every problem by allowing stock to be put into the back of the racks from inside the cooler. Ease. Efficiency. First in, First out = Less spoilage.
From a 2024 vantage point this isn’t revolutionary. That’s because we are so spoiled by the efficiency around us we can’t even see it. The average US grocery store has over 100,000 individual items. Some have 200,000. That selection is managed & enabled by efficiency. Little things like flow racks that naturally move the milk forward make it all possible.
Ohno took ideas developed for grocery stores and reimagined them in the context of a factory:
- Gravity flow racks that move parts forward naturally (like the milk!)
- Central stocking for parts (like a supermarket, but on a production floor)
- “Shelf stockers” aka Material Handlers (stocking parts instead of milk & canned goods)
Then he implemented them across Toyota’s production floor; these ideas and many others. Although many of them seem simple, these ideas would coalesce to become the Toyota Production System AKA Lean Management. Ohno’s ideas gave birth to a revolution in manufacturing. Seventy years later his innovative splash is still creating waves.
Change doesn’t have to be expensive, difficult or even some huge technology implementation. It does take inspiration. Thankfully we live in a world filled with innovative solutions that are just waiting for us to apply them to our little part of the world.
A few decades after Ohno’s dairy inspirations, Toyota Motor Corporation would become the global leader in high quality manufacturing. Their metamorphosis was not the result of some revolutionary technological leap. It was enabled by the curiosity of men like Taiichi Ohno. They looked for inspiration everywhere, including the dairy section of your local supermarket.
My favorite read of 2023:
Guidara details the growth of his restaurant from 50th place to Number One in the fine dining scene. His refreshing take on customer service, audacious goals, and larks like ‘Dream Weavers’ are inspiring for all industries. By the way, Guidara is the culinary side of the production team of The Bear in case you have started enjoying that series on FX/Hulu.
He highlights the value of dreaming big, like greeting every diner by name as they enter (meaning the hosts memorized photos!) and the value of thinking small, like the time the restaurant served Nathan's hot dogs as a course when they overheard a family bemoan that they had missed out on the NY classic.
Every business should strive to be similarly unreasonable in their customer service and interactions.
One note - if you happen to live in Nashville, I’ve got a couple extra copies. Send me an email and I’ll get one to you!
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Did today’s dispatch leave you thinking:
“Great story, but why does it matter?”
I’m so glad you asked!
We are all striving to be just a little better than we were yesterday, or last week, or last year. That striving is because we have bosses, investors, and an annual plan to meet, but some of that striving is simply because being better is FUN. Too often though what holds us back as Great Leaders is a need to be flashy, to show progress in a specific way, or to be seen in some fantastical manner. That desire for big, flashy change is pride getting in the way of progress.
What I love about this story of Toyota & Taiichi Ohno is that the inspiration for change was boring.
It wasn’t flashy.
It wouldn’t look good in a marketing deck.
It was about as sexy as a milk carton.
Despite the lack of pizazz the inspiration didn't just change automotive industry. Global manufacturing was revolutionized.
In the age of robots, automation, and artificial intelligence it is so easy for us to be attracted to flashy, sparkly, expensive ideas for change. When often we would be better served to push down our pride, look at the industries around us, and create change & growth that is sustainable, repeatable and resilient.
Thanks for reading - I hope you are inspired to change & grow.
Anyone up for a trip to the dairy aisle?
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Keep Learning, Leading & Growing -
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Adam Malone 📬
The Sometimes Tenacious Founder
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