Tag Archives: Toyota

Big Failed Three, Meet the Successful Eight

Posted on December 15, 2008 by John Hunter

Big Three, Meet the “Little Eight” The 1,300-acre plant, in which Toyota has invested $5.3 billion, produces a car roughly every minute. Georgetown’s population has doubled. In fields where farmers once grew tobacco and raised cattle, McMansions, apartment complexes, and condominiums have sprouted. A 150,000-square-foot upscale retail center is rising near the Toyota plant, the better to serve its 7,000 employees. … In San Antonio, the Toyota Tundra plant lay idle for three months this fall, though Toyota hasn’t laid … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Manufacturing | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Idle Workers Busy at Toyota

Posted on October 12, 2008 by John Hunter

Idle Workers Busy at Toyota Instead of sending the workers home, as the Detroit makers often do, Toyota is keeping them at the plants, though. The employees spend their days in training sessions designed to sharpen their job skills and find better ways to assemble vehicles. … At its Princeton plant, by contrast, Toyota is using the down time to hone its workers’ quality-control and productivity skills. The company has pledged never to lay off any of its full-time employees, … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Manufacturing, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Financial Market Meltdown

Posted on October 10, 2008 by John Hunter

The financial market meltdown has grown to the point where it has profound ramifications for everyone. The common wisdom for financial market variation, for most of us, is just to focus on the long term and don’t worry about short term fluctuations. That is good advice. This panic is threatening to override that wisdom however. There are at least 2 areas to consider: personal finance and business prospects (how managers need to take this crisis into account). On personal finance … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Toyota Winglet – Personal Transportation Assistance

Posted on August 10, 2008 by John Hunter

Toyota has a long term vision. The population of Japan is aging rapidly. Toyota has invested in personal transportation and personal robotic assistance for quite some time. I must admit this new Winglet doesn’t seem like an incredible breakthrough to me (their earlier iUnit seems much better to me – though I am sure much more expensive too). The interest to me is in their continued focus on this market which I think is a smart move. The aging population … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , ,

How to Develop Thinking People

Posted on August 6, 2008 by John Hunter

Toyota’s Top Engineer on How to Develop Thinking People [broken link was removed] Hayashi says, “Developing people requires physical endurance.” Frequent follow up is necessary, in person. It is not acceptable to give an assignment and follow up or scold only after three months, during a progress report meeting. Specific actions and detailed follow up are necessary. Excellent advice. Also, when we are required to deliver results with speed, we only give our subordinates small projects so that even if … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, quote, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , ,

Drucker’s Ideas at Toyota

Posted on July 8, 2008 by John Hunter

The Drucker difference and Toyota’s success [the broken link was removed] by Ira A. Jackson, dean of the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management, the business school of the Claremont Colleges. Because of this core belief in the power of people, Toyota invests in people. And at the same time, the company has come to realize that when people grapple with opposing views … Embrace contradictions as a way of life. Sticking to old practices can lead to rigidity. … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Management Articles, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , ,

The Contradictions That Drive Toyota’s Success

Posted on June 23, 2008 by John Hunter

An interesting article in this month’s Harvard Business Review looks at the seeming contradictions at Toyota – The Contradictions That Drive Toyota’s Success by Hirotaka Takeuchi, Emi Osono, and Norihiko Shimizu Many of Toyota’s goals are purposely vague, allowing employees to channel their energies in different directions and forcing specialists from different functions to collaborate across the rigid silos in which they usually work. For example, Watanabe has said that his goal is to build a car that makes the … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Process improvement, Systems thinking, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , ,

Outsourcing To America

Posted on May 30, 2008 by John Hunter

Outsourcing To America [the broken link was removed] Toyota began operating in North America in the mid-1980s. It currently operates seven automotive plants there, four of which are in the U.S. A fifth plant is under production in Mississippi. Toyota employs 40,000 manufacturing employees in North America. In addition to the manufacture of cars and trucks, Toyota runs four unit factories in the U.S., where they produce such parts as engines, transmissions and wheels. Toyota also has a wholly owned … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Lean thinking, Management Articles, Manufacturing, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , ,

Toyota Execution Not Close to Being Copied

Posted on May 7, 2008 by John Hunter

The Open Secret of Success Toyota’s innovations, by contrast, have [focused] on process rather than on product, on the factory floor rather than on the showroom. That has made those innovations hard to see. But it hasn’t made them any less powerful. At the core of the company’s success is the Toyota Production System, which took shape in the years after the Second World War, when Japan was literally rebuilding itself, and capital and equipment were hard to come by. … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Innovation, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Popular, quote, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Toyota Canada CIO on Genchi Genbutsu and Kaizen

Posted on April 24, 2008 by John Hunter

What’s driving Toyota Canada’s success? – CIO reveals all for Hao Tien, chief information officer (CIO) at Toyota Canada Inc. those two Japanese phrases – Genchi Genbutsu (go and see) and Kaizen (continuous improvement) really capture it all. … the innovation wasn’t in the technology, but in the way the various partners were brought together to agree upon processes, which were then consistently executed. CustomerOne is only project of its kind in the Toyota empire. … A computer system links … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Toyota Building Second Plant in India

Posted on April 11, 2008 by John Hunter

Toyota is investing $350 million in a second Indian manufacturing plant. The plant is focused on producing vehicles for the local market – as the Toyota Production System suggests that production be close to the market. Toyota to invest Rs1,400 crore for “strategic” small car in India The new plant will have a production capacity of 100,000 units and will become operational by 2010, he added. The company’s current plant has a capacity of 63,000 units a year. The plant … Continue reading →

Posted in India, Manufacturing, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Toyota’s Commitment

Posted on March 8, 2008 by John Hunter

From Toyota’s blog, Living Up to Our Commitment We’ve received reports that on a small number of model-year 1995 to 2000 Tacomas, excessive corrosion of the frame has caused perforation of the metal. The reason for this, it appears, is that the frames of some of the 813,000 vehicles built during this time-frame may not have adequate corrosion protection. … Because of our oft-stated commitment to standing behind our products, we’re extending the rust-perforation warranty covering these trucks for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #30

Posted on February 29, 2008 by John Hunter

Please submit your favorite management posts to the carnival. Read the previous management carnivals. How not to improve a process – “It is not enough to think you know what’s right for the process, if you don’t understand how the process works, then don’t play with it” A tour of a lean-inspired clinical laboratory by Ted Eytan – “In the design, which involved a labor-management partnership, the team elected to replace a million-dollar conveyer belt system with a $200 dollar … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged , , , , , ,

Car Powered Using Compressed Air

Posted on February 25, 2008 by John Hunter

Jules Verne predicted cars would run on air. The Air Car is making that a reality. The car would be powered by compressed air. Certainly seem like an interesting idea. Air car ready for production: Refueling is simple and will only take a few minutes. That is, if you live nearby a gas station with custom air compressor units. The cost of a fill up is approximately $2.00. If a driver doesn’t have access to a compressor station, they will … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun, India, Innovation, Lean thinking, Management, Science, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Toyota Presses On

Posted on February 24, 2008 by John Hunter

At Toyota, a Global Giant Reaches for Agility With plants in 27 countries, more new factories under construction and workers speaking languages that include Russian and Turkish, Toyota’s top executives are trying a difficult balancing act – replicating the company’s success and operating principles in other countries while ceding more control to these new outposts at the same time. … Next year, it expects to sell more than 10.4 million cars worldwide, double what it sold in 2000. … At … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , ,

Deming Companies

Posted on December 17, 2007 by John Hunter

I get asked for examples of Deming managed companies fairly often. And recently I have had a number of such requests. So I figured I would provide an answer as a blog post. First, Dr. Deming would respond to such questions by referring to the theory of knowledge and the fallacy of trying to learn via examples. So remember to read up on why learning from examples is dangerous before taking to much from this. I see Toyota as the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Popular, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , | 7 Comments