Toyota started building vehicles at its brand new facility in Burnaston, England, and engines in Deeside, Wales, in 1992. When setting up its UK operations, Toyota followed a well-proven formula they had developed while setting up their GM joint-venture plant, the NUMMI facility in California, in the 1980’s. The knowledge and experience gained with each subsequent non-Japanese plant has refined this formula for new plant development. It has led Toyota to establish a strategy for new plants so that they will become ‘self-sufficient in TPS’. A recent study, comparing managers and engineers within the automotive industry, found that the typical Toyota manager had far greater lean knowledge, demonstrated a far higher level of leadership behaviour and spent more time at the place of work (Gemba) than his contemporaries (as shown in Fig 2). But this is not because Toyota hires ‘better’ managers. It is achieved via their commitment to developing people. A process that is a fundamental component to their success and rarely seen anywhere else. This article aims to shed a little light on what Toyota’s highly philosophical approach actually looks like in reality. FIGURE 2 2 X KNOW E DG E L 3X BE VIOUR HA XT IM E B M E AT G A 4 IMPERFECT PLANNING Many companies aim to create the ‘perfect plant’ or ‘turnkey operations’. The more perfect this is required to be, the more time and money is spent (exponentially). Toyota takes a more pragmatic approach. Of course, they install very robust facilities, but they do not worry about making it perfect. On the contrary, these imperfections help them establish a TPS culture. As part of my training, I visited other Toyota facilities in both Japan and the US and, keen to absorb as much as possible, I noted various interesting ideas for equipment, layout, tools, etc. In particular, I made detailed notes and sketches of various kaizens2 that had been implemented over time. Upon returning to Burnaston, I was shocked to discover that many of them were missing. WHEN I ASKED WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM, MY COACH SIMPLY REPLIED: “DO NOT WORRY… YOU WILL KAIZEN!” Kaizen is Japanese for “good change”. When used in the business sense, kaizen refers to activities that continually improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. By improving standardised activities and processes, kaizen aims to eliminate waste. 2 2
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