Nov 30th 2015

Toyota Kata

According to Wikipedia, Kata (型 or 形 literally: “form”?) is a Japanese word that stands for detailed choreographed patterns of movements practised either solo or in pairs. Kata are used by Japanese in martial arts, such as aikido, judo, kendo and karate. Toyota Kata refers to managerial routines used by Toyota (“way of doing”) to achieve continuous improvement. Mike Rother coined this term, researched on this topic and wrote a book titled “Toyota Kata”. From his research Mike Rother identified a number of management models such as Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata. Read more…