No Satisfaction at Toyota
This perceptive article on FastCompany.com explains the source of Toyota’s successful “insatiable competitiveness that would seem un-American were it not for all the Americans making it happen.”
What drives Toyota is “the presumption of imperfection… and a distinctly American refusal to accept it.” “It is rooted in an institutional obsession with improvement that Toyota manages to instill in each one of its workers….”
The story of improvements made to the paint shop at Toyota’s car factory in Georgetown, Kentucky, is the explanation for Toyota’s steady advancement to becoming the world’s leading car manufacturer. Changeovers in paint sprayers from one color to the next between batches of cars resulted in waste of 30% of car paint. A team examined the opportunity for improvement and changed the process to eliminate the need for batching. They redesigned the painting robots, eliminating the need for an entire painting booth. Waste was cut practically to zero and the whole process speeded up.
No one stopped to celebrate this success. Engineers freed by the improvements turned their attention to the next round of improvements. Such improvements, the Toyota supervisor said, aren’t projects or initiatives but the work of every day.
The authors, Charles Fishman and Spencer Heyfron, write, “The work is really threefold: making cars, making cars better, and teaching everyone how to make cars better.” And, “It’s not just the way Toyota makes cars—it’s the way Toyota thinks about making cars.”
Continual improvement is a way of life for people in the Toyota organization.
Issue 111, December/January 2006/07.
What drives Toyota is “the presumption of imperfection… and a distinctly American refusal to accept it.” “It is rooted in an institutional obsession with improvement that Toyota manages to instill in each one of its workers….”
The story of improvements made to the paint shop at Toyota’s car factory in Georgetown, Kentucky, is the explanation for Toyota’s steady advancement to becoming the world’s leading car manufacturer. Changeovers in paint sprayers from one color to the next between batches of cars resulted in waste of 30% of car paint. A team examined the opportunity for improvement and changed the process to eliminate the need for batching. They redesigned the painting robots, eliminating the need for an entire painting booth. Waste was cut practically to zero and the whole process speeded up.
No one stopped to celebrate this success. Engineers freed by the improvements turned their attention to the next round of improvements. Such improvements, the Toyota supervisor said, aren’t projects or initiatives but the work of every day.
The authors, Charles Fishman and Spencer Heyfron, write, “The work is really threefold: making cars, making cars better, and teaching everyone how to make cars better.” And, “It’s not just the way Toyota makes cars—it’s the way Toyota thinks about making cars.”
Continual improvement is a way of life for people in the Toyota organization.
Issue 111, December/January 2006/07.