What is the Toyota Production System?

The Toyota Production System (TPS) is a production system (sometimes called "lean manufacturing system" or "Just-in-Time (JIT) system") developed by the Toyota company based on the philosophy of eliminating all possible waste in the production line, while achieving the most efficient methods to perform the process activities in order to produce and deliver efficiently, quickly and with the required quality, the car ordered by the customer.

The TPS is the result of the establishment of a continuous improvement process in the production line.

Lean Manufacturing Definition

According to BusinessDictionary.com, the term Lean Manufacturing refers to the concept of doing more with less by employing 'lean thinking.' , involving never ending efforts to eliminate or reduce 'muda' (Japanese for waste or any activity that consumes resources without adding value) in design, manufacturing, distribution, and customer service processes. 

The concept was developed by the Toyota executive Taiichi Ohno (1912-90) during post-Second World War reconstruction period in Japan, and popularized by James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones in their 1996 book 'Lean Thinking.' Also called lean production