The Toyota Production System (TPS) was developed between 1945 and 1970
and it is still evolving today. The 1973 oil crisis hit Japan at least as hard as it hit
America and Europe. By 1974, Japan's economy had collapsed to a state of nought
growth. At Toyota Motor Company, although profits suffered, greater earnings were
sustained in 1975, 1976 and 1977 than at other Japanese companies. The widening
gaps between Toyota and other Japanese companies opened the eyes of others in
Japan to this phenomenon called the Toyota Production System and it began spreading
rapidly in Japan.
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