SSAA (Six Sigma Academy Amsterdam) International

Origin The G21 project was a largescale project that enfolded at Toyota in the 1990’s. The aim was to navigate Toyota through the advent of the 21 st century, by creating a vehicle (catalogue) that could withstand the challenges of the upcoming 21 st century, including ever growing resource scarcity.   Many of you have seen one of the most prominent fruits of this project on the road. Perhaps, you or someone you know, even drives it. We are of course referring to the Toyota Prius. Less well known is another “fruit” of the G21 project, namely the “obeya” ( 大部屋 ) which translates to “big room” and was the brain child of Takeshi Uchiyamada, the chief engineer of the G21 project.   As the project advanced, Uchiyamada started to experience the same frustrating situation over and over again. Toyota was not a small company. In fact it was an industrial behemoth. A vast variety of experts, leaders and stakeholders wandered around in that gigantic ecosystem, both in and outside...