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"From the supermarket we got the idea of viewing the earlier process in a production line as a kind of store. The later process (customer) goes to the earlier process (supermarket) to acquire the required parts (commodities) at the time and in the quantity needed. The earlier process immediately produces the quantity just taken (restocking the shelves). We hoped that this would help us approach our just-in-time goal and, in 1953, we actually applied the system in our machine shop at the main plant.

''In the 1950s, American-style supermarkets appeared in Japan, bringing the object of our research even closer. And when in America in 1956, I finally fulfilled my desire to visit a supermarket firsthand."''


 * &mdash;Taiichi Ohno, Toyota Production System, English edition of 1988

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