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Started reading The machine that changed the world on Toyota’s lean manufacturing. Toyota's advantage wasn’t speed in the way we usually think about it. Today, we do things like moving people faster, shouting louder, or squeezing more hours out of the day.

On the other hand, what Toyota did looked slower on the surface. They did smaller batches with more stops and checks. They did those to stop problems move forward. Western factories treated defects like a cleanup task. Build first, fix later. Sort of like what we do today.

Toyota treated defects like poison. If something went wrong, the line stopped. That sounds extreme until you realise what it prevents. When defects travel, they compound. Toyota’s insight was simple: stopping early is cheaper than fixing late. And more importantly, stopping teaches the system where it’s broken. This flips the usual logic that we inherited from the West. Instead of rewarding uninterrupted production, they rewarded uninterrupted correctness. It’s uncomfortable because it forces problems into the open. Most organisations would rather hide them until the end.