Another look at how Toyota integrates product development

The managerial practices of Toyota's vehicle-development process can be grouped into six organizational mechanisms. Three of them are primarily social processes: mutual adjustment, close supervision, and integrative leadership from product heads. The other three are forms of standardization: standard skills, standard work processes, and design standards. Alone, each mechanism would accomplish little, but every piece has its own role and at the same time reinforces the others, unlike many of the sophisticated tools and practices at companies in the US, which tend to be implemented independently. Together, the mechanisms give Toyota a tightly linked product-development system that achieves cross-functional coordination while still building functional expertise. This balance allows the company to achieve integration across projects and over time, as well as within projects.