Teresa Bajor

Data for analysis and scientific interpretation was obtained by conducting a qualitative study in an industrial setting, using the BOST questionnaire – Toyota management principles in questions. The foundation of the research was the Eastern, particularly Japanese philosophy of the approach to production, expressed in the participation of the entire workforce in the evaluation and improvement of activities occurring during the manufacture of products.The paper will present the results relating to Toyota management principles 1 and 2. Arithmetic averages will be calculated for the sets of scores obtained. They are the basis for the being the material result of the production process. For investigations, the 3x3 matrix, after some modification, will be used to assess the relationship between technological capabilities and product competitiveness. The structure of the map described by the technological capabilities and competitiveness of the product gives information on the desirability of manufacturing the product in question.The paper will examine the relationship between the capabilities of technology and the competitiveness of the products of a metalworking company in light of selected Toyota principles. The opinion of production personnel is an important factor in the process of evaluating technology to increase the competitiveness of the products obtained.In the research, employees of the operational level, i.e. the part of the crew that is directly involved in shaping products and creating quality, were used to obtain data on the evaluation of the course of production processes.The technology implemented by specific machines serves to produce a specific product, which is the material result of the production process. The material result should be transformed into a financial result, which is determined by the number of units of the product sold.The product of a given enterprise, according to the laws of the free market, should be better, cheaper, etc., than the product of another enterprise.