So how has the current Toyota president Akio Toyoda, a sprightly 55 years young and grandson of the company’s founder, had to adapt these principles during the past 12 months?
It is reported that Toyoda, in his attempts
to re-energise the company, wants to be the closest president ever to the gemba, spending more time on the plant floor observing the real work that is being done. This is quite admirable considering the army of people that he has working for him. But recent events have forced Toyota to change. It can no longer preach the ways of Lean to the world and yet continue to promote a corporate culture that is decades out of date. It was certainly a wake-up call for the organisation to find out that it really was not as far ahead of its competitors as it thought it was.
Toyoda has since reduced the size of the
Board by half and has eliminated layers of management. He now meets with his team of five advisors every Tuesday morning. No written reports or agendas are allowed in these meetings, thus allowing immediate decisions to be made. These meetings allow Toyoda to spend more of his time with production development. The evidence is clear with a number of exciting new models this year. The company really are striving towards their objective of making “always better cars”.
It can be said then that Toyoda and Toyota
really do believe in the principle of gemba. The president is also a certified test driver and each year takes to the track to test more than 200 vehicles, including both Toyotas and other brands.
So when the devastating earthquake and tsunami struck a year ago, how did Toyoda react? The problem was not so much the production at it’s main plant in Toyota City but with the suppliers based in the north of the country. The production line depends on more than 500 parts being provided by external suppliers. Toyoda dispatched his managers immediately to visit the suppliers and help them get back on track, locating alternative suppliers where necessary. Within just one month 70% of supplies had been restored, and by May, just 6% of supplies were still disrupted. By solving the supply problem so quickly, the company only lost production of 800 000 units, equating to just 10% of its annual output.
Toyota now has to handle another recall, this time reportedly in excess of 600 000 vehicles in USA, hardly the most forgiving of markets. Toyota has already lost market share there, down from 18% in 2009 to just under 13% in 2011, due in part to the previous recall crisis that saw 9 million vehicles affected. Where to next we must ask?
Photo: © Jose Goncalves April 2012 | Management Today 37
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