Page 287 - The Toyota Way Fieldbook

262 THE TOYOTA WAY FIELDBOOK

department, and so forth, and a brief explanation of the current situation and
the proposed change. The suggester is responsible for determining which areas
would be impacted by the suggestion. These include safety, quality, time reduc-
tion, cost reduction, and other intangible improvements. Associates submit the
form to their supervisors, who will review it with them to ensure that the idea
is understood and the necessary information is included.
The supervisor plays a key role in the suggestion system process. In most cases
the supervisor has the authority to approve implementation and payment of the
suggestion. The supervisor can approve all suggestions with payments of up to
$16, which account for approximately 85 percent or more of all suggestions. It is
important to note that there is a difference between approval for implementation
and approval for payment. The supervisor should approve a suggestion and sup-
port the implementation prior to submitting it for payment. The supervisor can
approve implementation of most suggestions without additional approval (except
for the other shift supervisor, and provided the cost to implement is within the
supervisor’s authority and the change does not affect current process equipment).
Many suggestions are of an intangible nature. That is, it is difficult to directly
calculate the potential benefit. Suggestions for the prevention of possible safety
hazards, and suggestions to eliminate possible mistakes or to eliminate current
mistakes, are examples. Often, the potential dollar savings is difficult to calculate
or may be small and does not justify the effort needed to calculate it. For sugges-
tions of this value, it is not required to “cost justify” the suggestion. In all cases a
minimum $10 payment is made for all approved and implemented suggestions.
If the suggestion involves more significant savings, the suggester and super-
visor will compile the necessary supporting data to verify the actual savings. The
suggester is responsible for gathering any data; however, the supervisor gener-
ally needs to provide guidance to ensure that the documentation is complete
and accurate.
Suggestions for payments over $16 require additional levels of approval, and
the greater the potential payment, the higher the level of approval required. The
next level of supervision can approve payments of up to $100. A department man-
ager must approve payments of up to $250, and the assistant general manager
must approve up to $500. The Suggestion Steering Committee must approve pay-
ments over $500. The committee is comprised of area managers, general managers,
accounting, and the program administrator. A suggestion valued at a payout
of $500, for example, must be approved by all levels through the “chain,” up to
and including the Steering Committee of the entire plant. This approval process
can greatly impede the payment process, but not the implementation process. If
the idea is considered good by the supervisor, it is implemented immediately. The
big suggestions have to be implemented and data collected for three months to
verify effectiveness before the suggestion is submitted for payment.