Page 311 - The Toyota Way Fieldbook

286 THE TOYOTA WAY FIELDBOOK

Clearly when the supplier is involved in the “design-in” process and has engi-
neers on site, they are in close communication with Toyota engineers. But the
nature of the communication is very different from the “inundation model.” Most
of the communication is between the specific Toyota engineer in charge of that
component system and the supplier engineer for that system. And it is highly
focused on technical issues. There is much less non-value added communication
than we see at other companies. Toyota expects the supplier engineer to learn
Toyota’s CAD system. Toyota engineers can do their own CAD work—they do
not delegate the core engineering work to specialist CAD users—and they expect
the same of the supplier engineers. So a lot of the time the supplier engineer is
doing engineering work—something all too rare in many companies.
A great deal of information sharing is necessary in order to optimize the
development and manufacturing of the vehicle. Achieving the cost reductions
Toyota expects cannot be achieved through manufacturing improvements alone.
For instance, Toyota estimates that 70 percent of its purchasing manpower is
spent during the product development and launch phases. Particularly during
the early phases of product development, the most sensitive proprietary infor-
mation each company possesses is being disclosed and discussed. It can only be
openly shared in an atmosphere of trust.
Has your company developed this kind of trust to openly share technical
information with key suppliers? What percentage of the communication
between your company and suppliers is value-added technical communica-
tion? By this we mean focused on technical issues that get immediately trans-
lated into engineering design and decisions. Is there a clear technical contact in
your company working with each supplier? Are your technical contacts highly
knowledgeable and authorized to make decisions about the product? Do your
engineers and suppliers share a common language so communication is efficient,
timely, and accurate?

Joint Improvement Activities
Many American suppliers we know celebrated when they first received business
from Toyota, even if it is a small and not very profitable start-up contract. In
addition to new sales, they knew as a parts supplier that they would have
opportunities to learn and get better . . . and enhance their reputation with other
customers. Toyota does not just purchase parts from suppliers. Toyota develops
supplier’s capabilities. A contract from Toyota is like getting admitted to a top
university—the best in the business. Toyota’s goal in teaching its suppliers lean
methods is not to teach specific tools or methodologies, but to teach a way of
thinking about approaching problems and about improving processes.
The approach Toyota uses is learning by doing and experiencing. Toyota has
some training courses, for example on TPS. But these tend to be short overview