Van Gogh and Sakichi Toyoda
Also, I think that Van Gogh, a painter I respect, and Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of the Toyota Group, are very similar people.
Sakichi Toyoda was a man who dedicated his life to inventing and improving the loom, the founding business of the Toyota Group.
Here are some anecdotes from books written about Sakichi Toyoda.
“Work didn’t go as planned, and I suffered many hardships. Every day, from morning to night, I would make something, then destroy it, build it, then rebuild it again. People around me treated me like an eccentric, a madman.”
“Since ancient times, inventors have always been poor, alienated from humanity, and ultimately oppressed. Only after experiencing the sorrows of all humanity can they finally achieve their greatest ambitions.”
“Sakichi Toyoda lived a solitary, secluded life, day in and day out inventing. He never showed his face in high society, never sought fame, had no hobbies or interests, and would shut himself up in a room from morning to night, immersed in inventions with just a pencil and a piece of paper.”
In this way, I believe that the personalities and daily lives of Sakichi Toyoda and the painter Van Gogh are very similar. It is no wonder that they had such a great influence on the lives of so many people for a long time after their deaths.
Producing paintings using the Toyota Production System
Toyota Motor Corporation, one of Japan’s leading major companies, is a very instructive company.
I believe that the Toyota Production System, the concept that developed Toyota into the world’s number one automobile company, can be applied to any industry. In particular, all manufacturers (including painters) should practice it. The Toyota Production System is also at the core of my basic ideas for producing paintings. Producing cars, whiskey, and paintings is the same thing.
The Toyota Production System is a production method devised by the founder Sakichi Toyoda and his son Kiichiro Toyoda. This method is based on two central ideas.
1. Human-centered automation
“Detect abnormalities, stop when abnormalities occur, stop when abnormalities occur”
Since the Meiji and Taisho eras, the machines made by Sakichi Toyoda have had a mechanism that would automatically stop if a defective product was produced.
2. Just-in-time
“Make what you need, in the quantities you need, every day.”
“Just make it in time, don’t make too much.”
These two ideas were devised because the Toyota Group was originally poor. The Toyota Production System, which minimizes defective and unsellable products, is the foundation of Toyota’s high profitability.
Its purpose is to eliminate waste while improving product quality. The Toyota Production System can improve the financial health of a business.
Toyota became a wealthy company known as Toyota Bank, and used the large amount of funds it had saved for research and development, which meant that other companies could not catch up.
Toyota Motor Corporation Quotations
Here are some words that I think about while creating a painting:
“Protect your own castle”
“Stingy business practices”
“True stinginess is the expression of frugality. The earnestness of Goshu merchants is to be as frugal as possible and eliminate waste in business”
“Country spirit”
“Indomitable fighting spirit”
“Perseverance”
“Everything in life is a challenge. Everything in a challenge is fighting spirit and effort”
“Good products, good ideas”
“Purity and hard work are important. Don’t spare any effort. Don’t be afraid of hard work”
“It’s not about making it for yourself or selling it to others. You must have the feeling that you are being bought from them, that you are being allowed to make it”
“Don’t spare any effort. Don’t be afraid of hard work. Stubborn and greedy, … He has deep insight and is straightforward in everything he does. This is Toyota’s greatest virtue.
“Sell something that cost 10 yen to make for 11 yen. In this case, 1 yen is a fair profit. And if no one is willing to buy it for 11 yen, find a way to sell it for 10 yen. To do this, you must reduce costs to 9 yen. So, find a way to do that.”
“Real competition is selling the originality of a company, selling the technology and services that are unique to that company. Of course, it’s even better if you can make it cheaper. The key is to compete on the value of the product itself.”
“Do it with strong conviction. Everyone thinks the same way, and Kiichiro was not a genius. What’s important is not just thinking about something that is generally thought to be impossible, but having a strong conviction that it had to be done no matter what, he made sufficient preparations and then carried it out.”
“Don’t think mechanically. Even a dry towel can get water out if you use your ingenuity.”
“The price of a product is determined by the customer. Profits are determined by cost reduction. Cost reduction is “Inventions are determined by pursuing manufacturing from the very root.”
“Inventions are not so much about knowledge itself, but about how much you make it your own. That is why people who don’t go to school often come up with great inventions. It takes a lot of research and a lot of effort before this can be put to use for the benefit of people around the world. I believe that inventions are born out of that effort. Inventions are the result of hard work.”
“I do it because it’s difficult. No one else will do it, and I do it because I can’t do it. I may be a fool, but without fools like me, nothing new would be born in the world. That is what makes life interesting, and that is what gives me meaning in life. If I can’t do it and collapse, it’s because I wasn’t strong enough, so I should just commit seppuku.”
All of these words have influenced me as I create my paintings.
The famous person who was the leading figure in fully implementing the Toyota Production System in production sites after World War II was Taiichi Ohno.
What he said in his lecture was very informative, so I would like to share some excerpts with you.
The words of Taiichi Ohno
“As I just said, no matter how efficiently you increase the cost of producing something that doesn’t sell, what good is that doing to a company?
However, they can only sell 100 units.
For example, if you had 10 subordinates who used to make 100 units, but recently their productivity has improved a little, they can now make 120.
So the most important thing is to make 100 units.
Even if you think that by increasing efficiency you can make 120 units and therefore the price per unit must be considerably cheaper, this is a complete waste of time.
Furthermore, if only 80 units are sold, then front-line supervisors need to think about how to make 80 units cheaply, otherwise the company will be poorer while everyone is working hard and making a profit.
They kept making things, thinking that they would sell by next month, and their efficiency also increased.
Well, they were feeling good and were able to produce more and more, but then they started to run out of storage space. So they thought they would have to build a warehouse to store the goods.
Even when we went to work at the automobile company shortly after the war, whenever a part was ready on the production line, we would be told to take it immediately, to take it for transportation right away, because if we left it there, everyone’s morale would drop, so please bring it over as soon as it’s ready. Or, if it was materials, please bring it over and load it up. This strange way of thinking, which everyone thought would motivate them, continued for quite some time after the war.
As a result, the number of intermediate warehouses continues to increase, which means that warehousemen are needed here. Shelves also need to be made, which means that the products that were thought to be made cheaply on-site have to be put into the warehouse, and warehousemen are assigned to them.
As the number of products and the variety increase, it becomes impossible to manage them all by one person, and then the computer company comes along and says, “If we install a computer, it will do everything properly and without any mistakes.” So, instead of the eight people we currently have, if we install a computer, one girl can do it all properly, and it will just bring the right thing to the right place when you press a button.
This somehow makes things seem more convenient, and the computer company makes a profit.
So, even if you have made something so cheaply, wouldn’t it still cost money to add computers, build a warehouse, or hire warehousemen?
People need to think about why they have to charge more for something that the people on site have worked so hard to make cheaply.
The people on the front lines worked hard, efficiency improved, and they were able to produce a lot.
If you can produce so much that it doesn’t sell, it just makes the price go up.
I think there are many aspects of the product that are priced higher within the company before it reaches the hands of actual customers.
If that’s the case, it would be better if they didn’t make them in the first place, so they wouldn’t have to build warehouses, and by the time they get to the warehouses they have to be transported by lift truck, which would require gasoline and wear out the tires, so in the end, aren’t they all making things that can’t be sold?
We will also introduce the words of Dr. Goldratt, who highly values the Toyota Production System.
“What Ohno has done with production is challenge the most basic assumptions in production.
For example, if you have expensive production equipment and you pay workers, it’s wasteful for them to just stand there doing nothing next to the equipment.
We believe this and do not doubt it.
We do not even dare to think about it.
This is because we have not reached the level of Mr. Ohno.
He thought about this and said the following:
Whatever you want your workers to do, if it’s not needed right now, it’s far better for them to stand by the equipment doing nothing than to build it ahead of time.
This is the essence of the Toyota Production System.
You don’t make things ahead of time, because that would disrupt the flow and cause backlogs.
Flow is key.”
When I first learned about the Toyota Production System, it was like a bolt of lightning struck me.
From then on, I sacrificed sleep to study Toyota Motor Corporation.
