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This structured assignment is to accompany the case ''604-032-1''. The abstract of the case is as follows: After World War II, engineers and managers from the Toyota Motor Company undertook a ''pilgrimage'' to the US and visited the plants of auto giants like General Motors and Ford to study the production system of the US carmakers. During this trip, Toyota''s people noticed many inherent flaws in the mass production system of the US carmakers that generated a lot of waste at every step of the production process. The mass production system was also found out to be unsuited for the then small and fragmented Japanese automobile market. Taiichi Ohno, then a Plant Manager at Toyota (who later became the Executive Vice President), was given a mission to develop a manufacturing system that used the assembly line, but was still flexible enough to enable low production volumes. The result was the ''Toyota production system'' (TPS). Popularly known as the ''Toyota way'', this system was the driving force behind Toyota''s phenomenal success, with the company becoming the world''s second largest automaker with a 11% market share at the end of 2003. This case helps in understanding the evolution of the ''Toyota production system'' and establishes it as distinct from other manufacturing systems and the backbone behind Toyota''s phenomenal success.