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Dossier SolvayInnovationTrophy2006
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Long unknown outside the company, the Toyota way
is a set of management principles that drive the company
– and its people – to meet challenges and deliver growth.
Toyota is a believer in training and development and
everybody – bar none – is given training in ‘the Toyota
way’, however long it takes.
THE The TOYOT
way
Toyota is a company that has come a long way. In the
early 50s, it was producing about 13 000 cars a year,
almost equalling what General Motors were producing
in a day. But times have changed, and this year, with a
production of more than 600 000 cars in Europe, Toyota is
hard on their heels. In 2003, they overtook Ford to become
one of the top two car manufacturers in the world. Toyota in
Europe has been given free reign to produce the cars that are
required for the European market. Some can still be seen as
‘world cars’ – the Corolla for example, but more and more, Reflect like the tortoise, act like the hare
the development and design for the European market is done
in Europe, by Europeans.
Designed in Europe
A technical R&D centre is situated near Zaventem airport
(Brussels/Belgium), with the aim of producing one totally new car
every two years. The centre – getting bigger and better all the
time (two new buildings have recently been opened at the cost of
EUR 75 million), is already the proud father of the Avensis and
the Yaris. Everything above the platform is developed here – exterior
design, electronics etc - while the chassis and the motor are
developed in Japan. For Colin Hensley, General Manager, R&D
External Affairs & Communication at Toyota Europe, “it is a
remarkable system. A project manager – the chief engineer - is given
the task of bringing a team together, to deliver the new car on time,
and within budget. The specifications of the car have been
pre-defined by the marketing depar tment, and the vision
of the general management. For example, when the Prius
was first being thought about, the inspiration came from
the President at the time (1993). He wanted a car that would use
half as much fuel as any current car that Toyota produced. This was
a major challenge that demanded a radical rethink of how cars were
powered, and as the saying goes ‘you can’t take incremental steps,
and expect exponential results’. So the resulting car, with a hybrid
motor, was a project developed from the bottom upwards – bringing
together parts in a new way, and the whole concept had to be created
in function of the challenge”.
Many hours are spent discussing new projects so that everyone is
on board, and singing to the same hymn sheet. Each decision is
thought about and discussed and all alternatives – and their consequences
- are considered. But once decisions are made, the onus
is to get the work done quickly. There is constant development in
all aspects of car production, so the pro-ject manager can pick and
choose from ideas from a shelf system. These ideas have been
worked on through a system of continuous improvement (kaizen)
– a process whereby engineers have looked at a problem, and
thought of a better way. This too, is part of the Toyota way of
doing things.
Five steps to problem solving
Toyota personnel don’t wait for something to go wrong. Instead
they fix it before it becomes a problem. They have a straightforward
process to improve products, production or safety.
• Identify and clarify the problem
• Look clearly at the current situation – what are the facts?
• How will we measure success? What is the target?
• Ask why – five times? What is the root cause of the problem?
• What counter measures can be considered to solve the problem?
This is followed by a structured plan of execution, checking and
standardisation. This methodology has the added advantage of
being the same throughout the organisation – whether in Japan, the
USA or Europe. On top of that, there is a requirement to be brief