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Toyota Production System (TPS) house template

The Toyota Production System (TPS) house is the drawing used to explain TPS as one system: a roof of goals (highest quality, lowest cost, shortest lead time, highest safety and highest morale) held up by two pillars, just-in-time and jidoka, which stand on a foundation of heijunka, standardized work and kaizen. The house is built to remove three barriers: muda (waste), mura (unevenness) and muri (overburden). This template turns the drawing into a working sheet for one plant or value stream, with the elements as the TPS guide on this site describes them. Page 1 is a blank house: for each element the team writes what it does today, the evidence (a metric or something you can see), a status and one next step with an owner and a due date, and notes where muda, mura and muri show up. Page 2 has the house as a reference, with what each element means, 25 practices to look for and the templates on this site that help, how to run it as a workshop, and a worked example. The Excel version holds the 25 practices plus 10 of your own, counts them by element and status, scores each element, names the weakest, colours the house by status and tracks the next steps with overdue flags. The 3-step status key and the scoring rule are examples made for this template, not a standard.

Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.

Page 1 of the TPS house template: fields for plant or value stream, team, date and facilitator, the example status key, a roof with quality, cost, lead time, safety and morale, the just-in-time and jidoka pillars with lines for what we do today, evidence, status and next step, muda, mura and muri between them, and heijunka, standardized work and kaizen as the foundation.
Roof: five goalsJust-in-time pillarJidoka pillarHeijunka, standardized work, kaizenMuda, mura, muri25 practicesStatus per elementNext step and owner

When to use it

When to use a TPS house template

  • To explain the Toyota Production System to a team or a leadership group with their own plant on the drawing, not a textbook example.
  • At the start of a lean program, to see which parts of the house are missing and where to begin.
  • When lean tools have been rolled out one at a time, to see how they fit together and which element holds the others back.
  • At a set interval, such as each quarter, to check that the foundation still holds as the plant adds tools on top.

How to fill it in

  1. 1

    Pick one plant or value stream

    A value stream with a named owner works best. A whole company on one house averages away the gaps.

  2. 2

    Walk it with the people who run it

    The value stream manager, team leaders, planning, quality, maintenance and a few operators. Fill in the house from what you saw on the floor, not from what is planned.

  3. 3

    Start with the foundation

    Heijunka, standardized work and kaizen first, then the two pillars, then the roof. The TPS guide on this site says the foundation must be solid before the pillars can stand. Use the practices on page 2 to check each element.

  4. 4

    Write the evidence and set a status

    For each element, a metric or something you can see, then a status on the example 3-step key: not in place, partly or in place. In the Excel version each practice gets a status, and the element's status comes from an example scoring rule.

  5. 5

    Write one next step per element

    One action, one owner, one due date. Put most of the effort on the weakest element; page 2 names the templates on this site that help with each one, from the heijunka box planner to the andon response log.

  6. 6

    Track it and redraw it

    Follow the next steps on the action list, and redraw the house at a set interval with the same practices so the results can be compared.

What's in the house

The 25 practices to look for, by element of the TPS house

Practices for the roof, the two pillars and the three foundation elements, worded from the TPS guide on this site. In the Excel version each one gets a status: in place, partly or not in place, an example key made for this template.

Goals and outcomes

Highest quality, lowest cost, shortest lead time, highest safety and highest morale, as results of the same disciplines

  1. 1Quality: defects or first pass yield are measured where the work is done and shown to the team
  2. 2Cost: the cost of waste (scrap, rework, downtime, overtime) is known for this value stream
  3. 3Lead time: the time from order to delivery is measured and tracked
  4. 4Safety: injuries, near misses and overburden risks are recorded and acted on
  5. 5Morale: people take part in solving problems, and it shows (ideas answered, problems they closed)

Just-in-time

Each process makes exactly what the next process needs, when it needs it, in the quantity needed

  1. 6Takt time is worked out from customer demand and known at each process
  2. 7Work moves from one step to the next in small lots or one piece at a time, without piles building up between steps
  3. 8Kanban signals start production and material moves, based on what was actually used
  4. 9Nothing is made early or for stock: processes make to the pull signal, not to a forecast pushed from above

Jidoka

Machines and processes detect an abnormality and stop, so defects do not travel downstream

  1. 10Machines and checks detect abnormalities at the process, not at an inspection at the end of the line
  2. 11The machine or the operator stops the process when an abnormality is found, instead of running on
  3. 12An andon signal calls the team leader, who comes right away
  4. 13The immediate problem is fixed before work restarts, and suspect parts are held
  5. 14The root cause of each stop is investigated and a countermeasure put in place

Heijunka

Production volume and mix are leveled across the planning period instead of following lumpy orders

  1. 15Volume is leveled: about the same quantity is made each day of the period, not what each day's orders ask for
  2. 16Mix is leveled: different products are made in a repeating sequence, not in long runs of one
  3. 17The production rate is steady enough that takt time and standard work hold from day to day

Standardized work

The current best method for each operation, at takt time, with a set sequence and standard inventory

  1. 18Each operation has a written current best method with the sequence of steps
  2. 19The work at each station is set to run at takt time
  3. 20The standard inventory (work in process) at each station is defined and kept
  4. 21Every shift works to the same method, and the standard is updated when a better way is proven

Kaizen

Continuous improvement as daily work by every person, not a periodic event

  1. 22Improvement happens every day as part of the work, not only in events
  2. 23Frontline people suggest improvements, and every suggestion gets an answer
  3. 24Changes are tried, checked and then written into the standard
  4. 25People look for the wastes (muda) in their own work: overproduction, waiting, transport, extra processing, inventory, motion, defects

A filled-in example

Illustrative, not a benchmark

An example: a valve assembly value stream, assessed by its value stream manager and team on 30 September 2026 (illustrative numbers).

  • Of the 25 practices, 7 were in place, 11 partly and 7 not in place: (7 + 11 ÷ 2) ÷ 25 = 50% overall.
  • Heijunka scored lowest: 0 in place, 1 partly and 2 not, so (0 + 1 ÷ 2) ÷ 3 = 16.7%. Orders were built as they arrived, in long runs of each valve size, with overtime most Fridays.
  • Just-in-time scored (1 + 1 ÷ 2) ÷ 4 = 37.5%: takt was posted at assembly, but machining ran to a weekly forecast with no kanban. Both came out not in place on the example rule (under 40%). The roof and jidoka scored 60%, standardized work 50% and kaizen 62.5%, all partly.
  • Six next steps, one per element. On 30 September one was done (lead time measured every week), two were overdue (the kanban loop by 5 days, standard WIP by 2 days) and three were open.

The team put its effort into the foundation first: leveling the weekly plan into a daily mix with the heijunka box planner, so that the kanban loop sized with the kanban sizing calculator has a steady demand to follow.

Common mistakes

  • Drawing the house in the office

    The house is only useful when each element is checked on the floor. Write the evidence you saw, not the plan.

  • Starting with the pillars

    Kanban and andon on top of uneven schedules and drifting methods do not hold. Check heijunka, standardized work and kaizen first.

  • Treating the house as a list of tools

    The house shows how the elements depend on each other. A plant can have kanban cards and still not have just-in-time if each process is pushed a forecast.

  • A next step for every box at once

    Six actions at once spread the team thin. Work on the weakest element first, with one owner and one date per action.

Download the template

Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.

Run this template in LeanSuite

LeanSuite runs a plant's daily lean routines in one digital place: shop-floor issues, audits and 5S, maintenance checks, standard work, ideas and kaizen, skills and training, KPIs and tiered meetings, so every problem gets an owner and every action is tracked to closure.

FAQ

Toyota Production System (TPS) house template: common questions

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