A cornerstone of the Toyota Way is “challenge - Jeffrey K. Liker

In the abstract, science is hard to define, and there are endless philosophical debates over what it means. Rother is not focused as much on defining science per se, but rather on developing a practical approach to teaching people to think scientifically in everyday life. He describes it as:8 a mindset, or way of looking at the world/responding to goals and problems, that’s characterized by . . . Acknowledging that our comprehension is always incomplete and possibly wrong. Assuming that answers will be found by test rather than just deliberation. (You make predictions and test them with experiments.) Appreciating that differences between what we predict will happen and what actually happens can be a useful source of learning and corrective adjustment.

The vision for Lean, I believe, should be achieving operational excellence based on a clearly defined value system and a way of engaging people in Continuous Improvement. The goals can generally be summarized as Safety, Morale, Quality, Cost, and Productivity.

Be responsive to the day-by-day shifts in customer demand rather than relying on computer schedules and systems to track wasteful inventory.