Taiichi Ohno, Whose Car System Aided Toyota's Climb, Dies at 78

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Taiichi Ohno, a self-taught engineer who developed the manufacturing system that helped make the Toyota Motor Company one of the most powerful automobile producers in the world, died of heart failure on Monday in Toyota City, Japan. He was 78 years old.

Mr. Ohno, who spent his entire career with Toyota, is best known for devising the just-in-time system of manufacturing, which emphasizes keeping very low inventories of parts to reduce costs and improve the quality of cars. Mr. Ohno's manufacturing methods were introduced in Toyota plants in the mid-1950's and helped transform Toyota from a small car maker near bankruptcy in the late 1940's into the third-largest auto maker in the world, after General Motors and Ford.

Under Mr. Ohno's just-in-time system, parts are made only as they are needed and are delivered to the assembly line just in time to prevent the halt of production, hence the name.

Flaws Quickly Detected

Keeping inventories low is economically efficient because it reduces the amount of capital tied up in unsold goods. The system, manufacturing specialists say, also quickly exposes any flaws in the manufacturing process. If parts are defective, they are detected at the assembly line and the problem is pinpointed for correction.

Mr. Ohno also emphasized flexible manufacturing methods so Toyota could tailor cars and trucks for particular markets as well as reduce waste and improve quality control. As a result, the company's vehicles usually cost less to build and had fewer defects than those made in the United States and Europe.

Mr. Ohno's methods have since been copied by manufacturers in a large number of industries worldwide.

''He ranks among the production geniuses of the 20th century,'' said Michael A. Cusumano, an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who has written on Japanese manufacturing.

Norman Bodek, the president of Productivity Press, publisher of English translations of Mr. Ohno's books, said, ''His contribution to modern manufacturing ranks with the work of Henry Ford.''

Born in Manchuria

Mr. Ohno was born in Manchuria in 1912, the son of a Japanese ceramics technician working for the South Manchuria Railway. Near the end of World War I, the family moved to Japan and Mr. Ohno graduated from Nagoya Technical High School in 1932.

He started his career with Toyota's textile machinery operation that year and by 1943 was an assembly shop manager in its vehicle-making operations. He advanced through the executive ranks as his manufacturing expertise drew increasing recognition and was named an executive vice president of the Toyota Motor Company in 1975. He retired in 1978 but continued as a consultant until 1982.

He was the author of a number of books on manufacturing, including ''Toyota Production System,'' ''Workplace Management'' and ''Just-in-Time for Today and Tomorrow.''