Obeya

Obeya is a project-management and visual-management system in which a cross-functional team works in one room with timing, milestones, progress, and countermeasures displayed on walls. It is combined with a cadenced meeting structure so management can compare performance to plan and make problems visible. At Toyota it was used to shorten the PDCA cycle and support project success.

Source checked2/2 values · 2026-10-25Methodology

Specification

1 source

Kind	methodology
Origin	Toyota

Study notes

Takeshi Uchiyamada is credited with creating the obeya management system.
Uchiyamada was the Toyota chief engineer for the Prius.
In the described system, he met every two to three days with all required technical experts in a room with all pertinent information posted on the walls.
The posted information was available to everyone on the team at any time.
The G21 project became known as the Prius.
The obeya system is credited with making a major contribution to the Prius success and became a development staple at Toyota.
In a healthcare example, Dr. Frederico Pinto of a cancer treatment center in Brazil shows a Green Room and explains how it works.