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on and to divide up the diverse manufacturing operations of a product, in order to work more effectively and faster. Empowerment is based on the despecialisation and on the flexibility of the workers. For instance, simple and cheap stop devices are equipped on machines, which allow the supervision of several machines by the same operator. In case of a breakdown or a defect, the worker stops the assembly chain and tries to solve the problem himself. Thus, the employee has to be versatile and qualified enough. Machines are more automated and workers are more autonomous! They improve the human aspect of autonomation.

A new working organization form

Through those two innovations: the 'just in time' system and the 'autonomation' system, Toyotism aims at obtaining the '5 zeros', also qualified as 'Lean Production' in USA. The Toyotism method consists in reducing production costs, avoid overproduction, reduce delays and produce the best quality possible. So the five conditions are:

- 0 delay (Just in time production. This method consists in waiting for the commands before producing but they need to be very reactive.)

- 0 stock (No overproduction so no inventory cost.)

- 0 paper (No intern paperwork and hierarchy weakening.)

- 0 default (No good has to be faulty, so as to avoid reparation costs and to satisfy the client)

- 0 weakening (Thanks to a regular and rigorous maintenance, machines have no defect.)

Any activity or decision that does not add value in the customer's mind is considered a waste. Indeed, it is the customer who defines the value of the product. Waste reduction is an effective way to increase profitability.

Therefore, Taiichi Onho identified seven categories of wastes:

Overproduction (as seen above, overproduction requires inventory which is a waste of money)
Waiting (idle time, storage and waiting are wastes: indeed, if an employee has to queue for his material to start working, you pay him at doing nothing but waiting! Also if a good is neither being transported nor being processed, it is waiting and a good kept waiting is a good that is not being sold, so it's a good that does not generate revenue.)
Transportation (every time you move a product, you take the risk that it can be damaged or lost or delayed. Moreover, transportation is expensive and it is a real cost that does not add a special value to the product.)
Inventory (inventory represents an outlay because your raw materials, work-in-progress (WIP), or finished goods are not producing any income or added value.)
Motion (unnecessary movements of equipment or people)
Defective products (new extra costs are incurred when your products are faulty: you have to face returns, warranty claimsa€|.Sometimes you are also obliged to change all the components or to reschedule the whole production! Defects are a waste of time and money.)
Overprocessing (doing work that adds no value in the eye of the customer, or using very precise, complex and expensive manufacturing machines when they are not necessary, is a waste.)
To sum up, Toyotism principles are the continuous improvement of the processes (kaizen) by the engineers of production and by the operators themselves, and a production running downstream. Indeed, the buyers' orders are given to the production center then executed. It aut