Toyoda, Kiichiro (1894-1952)
The son of Toyota Group founder Sakichi Toyoda, who led the effort to enter the auto industry in the 1930’s. Kiichiro, believed that he could keep the entire production process stocked with needed goods if the preceding process would simply respond to the precise needs of the next downstream process. He called this system just-in-time, which became one of the two pillars of the Toyota Production System.