There was a recent post on the WSJ that suggested the Lean Manufaturing back fired at Toyota. "How Lean Manufacturing Can Backfire" Here is the link thhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704343104575032910217257240.htmle

There is a saying in Christian circles “Christians are not perfect they are just forgiven” I believe the same applies to the originator of the Toyota production system or Lean Manufacturing. Toyota is not perfect but rather they are in pursuit of perfection.

I believe that the author of article was smart in picking the title knowing it would spark a discussion.

In any case lean did not cause the gas peddle to stick what we have is a process failure or a missing step. The basic principles of lean are the elimination of waste not the elimination of quality or safety. What might have been missed is the introduction of possible variation of failures that could have caused the problem. A lean six sigma approach would review the possible failure modes and work to reduce variation. From what I know of the failure it seems that corrosion is the return to idle mechanism caused the gas peddle to stick at the accelerated position. With this understanding we can learn to test for potential failures by exposing the components to multiple environmental conditions thus reducing potential failures.

Lean is also about learning and I am sure Toyota will learn a great deal from this problem that they can apply to future products.