This document outlines the organizational structure of Toyota's assembly plant compared to a Detroit assembly plant. Toyota has fewer overall employees but more in indirect labor roles like leadership. Toyota's structure has: 1) Department managers, area managers, group leaders, and team leaders who can take responsibility for production and respond quickly to problems. 2) A higher ratio of indirect to direct labor which allows problems to be investigated and solved rapidly while the root cause is still evident. 3) Mechanisms like kaizen teams and standardized work that support continuous improvement versus firefighting issues in other production models.

1. President
(Senior Leader
On Site)
VP of Operations
(Senior Manufacturing
And Functional Managers)
Kaizen
Team
Department Manager A voluntary
Team assignment
Made up of
promotable Team
Area Manager leaders and led by a
Senior Group leader
(Assistant Managers)
Leads upstream
Machine Intensive Group Leader Single
batch operation (Supervisor Level) Minute
Production Team (Breakdown)
Response
Team
Production Team
Leads Production Team (5-6 Team Members)
Cells or Line Leaders Expandable to 10
Production Teams (Hourly) Team Members

2. Chain of Responsibility The Lean Leadership
Example: Organization at Toyota Academy®
President
Material Handling Equipment*: (Senior Leader
 840 Full-time Employees On Site)
 550 Hourly Production
Team- members VP of Operations
(considered Direct Labor) (Senior Manufacturing
And Functional Managers)
 17 Production Engineers
 18 Maintenance Technicians Kaizen
Team
 Kaizen Team – 6 members Department Manager A voluntary
Team assignment
Chassis Weld Department Manager> Made up of
promotable Team
Paint Department Manager> Area Manager leaders and led by a
Senior Group leader
Final Assembly Department Manager> (Assistant Managers)
Group Leader Single
(Supervisor Level) Minute
Leads upstream (Breakdown)
Machine Intensive Response
Zone Team
batch operations
Leader
Teams
Leads Production Team Production Team
Cells or Line Leaders (5-8 Team Members)
Production Teams (Hourly)

3. Who Will Investigate and Respond to Problems?
Direct vs. Indirect Ratios
Which Is Proven More Effective?
Toyota Assembly Plant = 706 Detroit Assembly Plant = 781
• Department Manager = 1 • Department Manager = 1
• Area Manager = 5 • Superintendents = 5
• Group Leaders = 25 • Supervisors = 15
• Team Leaders = 125 • Team Leaders = 0
• 550 Hourly Production • Team Members = 760
Team-members (considered  That’s 1 > supervisor for 50-
Direct Labor) 51 associates!
Both Have Similar Headcount Totals; The Lean Leadership
yet Toyota’s overall count is lower Academy®

4. Toyota’s Production Organization has fewer people compared to other
organizations; but a higher level of Indirect Labor due to its
leadership and team structure!
At Toyota: At others:
• Line can run with minimum labor • Cannot run lines with minimum
and equipment because labor and equipment
Standardized Work is calculated • Tends to be a static system
using Takt-time
• Is not organized to adequately
• Someone to take responsibility allow someone to be responsible
and be accountable for for production performance due
production requirements to the size of the group
• Someone to respond to problems • Accountability is often obscured,
while the “root-cause” trail is selective, and punitive
hot!
• Cannot investigate or solve
• Someone to lead Improvements problems as they occur.
• Mechanisms of TPS are catalyst to • Rarely improves
improving and evolving
constantly • Firefighting is the norm
The Lean Leadership
Academy®