The Prius That Shook.. - VFAQ Prius Site

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difference between an auto maker and a general-use battery maker?" Fujii pondered. "It is true that the Matsushita guys are confident that they have worked day and night on Prius. However, the quality level required on general goods is much lower than that on autos. We might end up with a huge problem in the end." Fujii had a hunch. Matsushita's engineers finally realized the difference in quality control between Toyota and Matsushita during the endurance tests held from spring to summer of 1997. The battery was installed in a test vehicle, and various data were recorded. Until that point, the Toyota team was working separately from the Matsushita team. After the joint venture was established, the two groups attended the tests on the test course. Matsushita's engineers realized that the amount of data to be taken and the required quality level were all at least one digit higher than what they were used to. They immediately sped up the development process. The other departments were requesting the battery to be improved every day. EV Energy was overcome by a sense of crisis. As was mentioned earlier, THS already had been shown to the public, and the launch date and the estimated price of the hybrid vehicle had been reported in the media. "What on earth would happen if a car receiving so 281
much attention cannot be launched as scheduled due to battery problems?" Fujii was scared to even think about it. His concerns quickly spread throughout EV Energy. The company burst into a concerted effort towards the end. pale. "Fujii-san, look, he looks like he's fainting." One evening, Fujii found a young engineer looking "How late did you work yesterday?" " Till four in the morning." "Gosh, you should go home and rest now." Fujii told him, then walked around the plant for inspection. When he came back after an hour, the young engineer was still working. "What are you doing here?" "Urn, I had to make sure of just one thing. Let me finish this today." During the last stretch, Matsushita engineers' concentration on work proved to be absolutely amazing. In the end they produced what they had promised. "So this is Matsushita style...." Fujii felt that he finally understood Kawase's composure and trust towards his staff. 282
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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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opinion about the future even when
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Judges divided into two camps becau
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panelists remain anonymous. Objecti
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the exterior design selection proce
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furnished with a virtual-image info
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fan-shape opening towards both side
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see which body design would be chos
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wanted to get to work as soon as po
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Division II? Are you all okay?" Sli
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Chapter 6 Power Play - Engine When
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to eventually replace the existing
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Three conditions Yaegashi supervise
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There was a reason for Yaegashi's a
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section General Manager to supervis
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Environmental Protection Agency (EP
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submit official requests to the Hum
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Test prototypes also were built qui
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quiet at night, the whining noise f
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"Our calculation shows it is now 40
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attery that met the required perfor
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The leader's announcement About tha
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whole system, Kanei focused on the
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and immediately requested permissio
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degrees. On January 24 1997, Ninomi
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power. In that case, instead of usi
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Chapter 7 A Second Technology Divis
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little different. The technology di
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technology division began looking f
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years, Kubo had submitted requests
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most powerful on the market. There
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inverter and a transaxle, connected
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mistake. "You know the motor width,
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shaft, various phenomena in the mag
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significant, we would like to help
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the second was 0.25 millimeters thi
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cars of its class so it could not a
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their vehicle tests. The team used
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would replace internal combustion e
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then simply turn the plan around to
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In the end, the ten cases manually
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indispensable to achieve short-term
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Matsushita Electric Corporation. To
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made at an early stage because the
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eputable manufacturer. No one at To
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As a result, there was no way out f
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such as home air conditioning inver
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use on the Prius. He could easily s
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would come part. The heat would not
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that produced this material was a v
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completed by the end of April when
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electronic parts building at Hirose
Page 230 and 231: Suspicion As the engineers continue
Page 232 and 233: Naturally, the engineers at Electro
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Page 238 and 239: Many departments were complaining t
Page 240 and 241: Let's do whatever we can The chip f
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Page 248 and 249: Center IV Vehicle Engineering Divis
Page 250 and 251: compact the Electric Vehicle Divisi
Page 252 and 253: the perfect layout by which to show
Page 254 and 255: The group tried dealing with this i
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Page 260 and 261: three-row system. There will be ano
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Page 264 and 265: Manager of BR-VF at the time, he ne
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Page 284 and 285: Chapter 11 The Two Product Planners
Page 286 and 287: the group. "We three members have f
Page 288 and 289: to feel that he wanted to work on a
Page 290 and 291: Let's share information Oi explaine
Page 292 and 293: decided to trust all workers who we
Page 294 and 295: and others issues. These resident e
Page 296 and 297: source of income. Antiquated sales
Page 298 and 299: Toyota Channel did not carry compac
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Page 306 and 307: and the driving distance on the tes
Page 308 and 309: member of the group that might have
Page 310 and 311: and the speed at which the pedal li
Page 312 and 313: ecause there were many people but a
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Page 318 and 319: hydraulic brake starts to work as s
Page 320 and 321: However, the initial braking power
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Page 324 and 325: needed to be looked at closely. Col
Page 326 and 327: Chapter 12 Human Network - Producti
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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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