The Prius That Shook.. - VFAQ Prius Site

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Chapter 7 A Second Technology Division? Production Technology's Help - Motor oyota has two technology development divisions," says a "TToyota engineer with sarcasm, referring to the technology division and the production technology division. The technology division develops and designs a product, and the production technology division develops technology and designs facilities for mass-production. Almost all engineers that come to Toyota want to design cars, and most of them want to work on engines. Even though Toyota is known to let its younger engineers have a certain degree of freedom with their choice of work, that is possible only within their department. If every new employee could do what he/she wanted to do, Toyota would end up with too many engine designers and no finished car. If an engineer ended up in the technology division, he/she is lucky. There are many new engineers with college backgrounds in engine or chassis design that end up in the production technology division. That is why the production technology division is filled with such engineers. And that also is why a strange relationship 179
exists between the technology division and the production technology division that are located opposite from each other on Highway 248 in Toyota City. Passive position In an effort to solve problems that develop at huge corporations, Toyota adopted new employment policies starting in 1997. They included interim employment for biotechnology and semiconductor specialists, fall employment of graduates of foreign universities, and open employment for engineers that requires no recommendation or reference from university lab professors. Until then, most engineers were employed only if they were recommended by their university lab professors. Every year, even after joining Toyota, many engineers from the production technology division applied for transfer to the technology division. However, most transfer requests would be denied so eventually the engineers would build a career as production technology specialists. When a new model is developed, a technology development center first designs the car, then the production technology division takes over, but the production technology division usually has a subordinate role. 180 With the development of Prius, however, its role was a
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THE PRIUS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD HOW
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Preface September 28, 1998. That wa
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had of the company. However, they d
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Having watched Toyota for four year
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situation will last much longer. Th
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or drive train. A CE would select t
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later became the Chief Engineer for
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technology. Since the Vehicle Devel
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other hand, the Working Group consi
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Vehicle Engineering Division. Since
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manager Kubochi would be making the
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deadline was the end of 1999. After
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efficient and environment-friendly
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continuously supervise the division
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"Well, since there is no existing c
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development, opposed the idea in th
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Uchiyamada studied engineering at t
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I want to work on cars Toyota had s
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the performance of their cars and i
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An uncertain departure Ishida, who
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computers from other departments. A
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and were free of mental stress, and
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what kind of product to make." "Oka
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ergonomics. What seat height would
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Designing a car from scratch Every
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document, detailing how the decisio
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yet dealt with specifics, such as e
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suspensions for Prius. The Vehicle
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the same Torsion Beam suspension as
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improve the general riding comfort
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calculating the structure. Don't ev
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a task that eventually would be can
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Chapter 3 Selection of the Hybrid S
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serve as a production tryout vehicl
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The design of the show car progress
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Motor Show so that we wouldn't be t
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the most practical system in the sh
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Using the system on the Camry? BR-V
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systems. "It seems so risky no matt
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introduced in the `70s. Auto makers
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fourth. The four systems were studi
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camera just as he is trying to figu
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problems. I don't seem to be able t
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was electronically controlled, anot
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Manual transmissions (MT) use clutc
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known as a "radical" within Toyota'
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Uchiyamada was to take charge of co
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or diesel. Even though environmenta
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store hydrogen. Researchers are cur
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them to join his office. Matsui and
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in between. Unfortunately, the engi
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Chapter 4 Sudden New President - Hi
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Public Relations vs. the media The
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Ministry of International Trade and
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appointment of the new Toyota Presi
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consolidated business, Toyota was b
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date was the end of 1998. To him, t
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that he felt "the Chairman, as lead
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Chapter 5 California's CALTY - Desi
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in the Vehicle Development Center I
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on the interior for Prius. "Serious
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consumers by its successes in motor
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Uchiyamada, who was determined that
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Page 142 and 143: wanted to get to work as soon as po
Page 144 and 145: Division II? Are you all okay?" Sli
Page 146 and 147: Chapter 6 Power Play - Engine When
Page 148 and 149: to eventually replace the existing
Page 150 and 151: Three conditions Yaegashi supervise
Page 152 and 153: There was a reason for Yaegashi's a
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Page 160 and 161: Test prototypes also were built qui
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Page 168 and 169: The leader's announcement About tha
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Page 196 and 197: the second was 0.25 millimeters thi
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Page 200 and 201: their vehicle tests. The team used
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Page 206 and 207: In the end, the ten cases manually
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Page 218 and 219: such as home air conditioning inver
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Page 222 and 223: would come part. The heat would not
Page 224 and 225: that produced this material was a v
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electronic parts building at Hirose
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Suspicion As the engineers continue
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Naturally, the engineers at Electro
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under fire? What was the point of y
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in a chip by slightly changing the
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Many departments were complaining t
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Let's do whatever we can The chip f
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purpose. However, the layer with br
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conduct heat when there were air bu
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Prius' inverter is totally amazing.
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Center IV Vehicle Engineering Divis
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compact the Electric Vehicle Divisi
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the perfect layout by which to show
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The group tried dealing with this i
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experienced considerable difficulty
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generator and motor, stood up and s
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three-row system. There will be ano
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drastically smaller battery to be t
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Manager of BR-VF at the time, he ne
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A difficult heat problem The improv
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Ogiso, it was far from what had bee
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time, nobody would actually say so.
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handed the BR-VF leader position to
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Establishing a joint venture compan
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defective on the store shelf even t
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Battery. Since Tsujido Plant was ma
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difference between an auto maker an
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Selling to the world Another differ
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Chapter 11 The Two Product Planners
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the group. "We three members have f
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to feel that he wanted to work on a
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Let's share information Oi explaine
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decided to trust all workers who we
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and others issues. These resident e
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source of income. Antiquated sales
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Toyota Channel did not carry compac
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satisfaction. It was Motoyasu Muram
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Kamiya's honest opinion was that th
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cars that would run without problem
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and the driving distance on the tes
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member of the group that might have
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and the speed at which the pedal li
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ecause there were many people but a
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car with better performance receive
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crankshaft, resonance vibration occ
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hydraulic brake starts to work as s
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However, the initial braking power
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conventional cars would become inte
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needed to be looked at closely. Col
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Chapter 12 Human Network - Producti
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If the plant were to be taken down
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General Manager of Honsha Plant, to
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for Motomachi Plant in Toyota City
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companies, but soon decided that th
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whole schedule. When a prototype pa
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The decision to double production P
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(Miyoshi-cho, Aichi Prefecture) was
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and was manufacturing units at the
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vehicles, renovation of manufacturi
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engineer, he would not have made th
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figure, because it would be final.
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"Well, it will depend on how many v
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Four hundred guests consisting of u
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Line workers were urged to work fas
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Director Fujio Cho, Managing Direct
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about 30 meters. There was no exhau
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publications that seldom feature au
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It was an unacceptable situation fr
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put all their efforts into improvin
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so that Toyota could maintain its q
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were booming, and the United States
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was. In addition, he explained, "Th
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introduction of Prius in particular
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problems, reports on problems and a
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young, curious engineer. The two en
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had a definite plan of launching it
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major newspapers. Even before being
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producing no noise or emissions fro
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facility with General Motors (GM) i
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from a special product to a popular
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