Page 93 - The Toyota Way Fieldbook

70 THE TOYOTA WAY FIELDBOOK

and only one item (part) because the material is delivered in large
heavy containers requiring a forklift. There is substantial waste in the
material handler’s job going back and forth throughout the day.
Also, the work method in this situation is impossible to standardize.
Since the line will only hold one box of each type of part, the timing
of the exchange is driven by the consumption of each part (which is
driven by the model mix), and that timing will therefore never be
consistent. It is impossible to dictate a specific time to deliver a certain
part to the line.
Anytime it’s not possible to standardize a job task, the result will be a
less efficient operation. It is impossible to define cyclical work and to
ensure that the methods are refined. Consolidating this waste allows
the creation of a standardized process for material handling that also
allows the delivery of a large variety of parts to many operators.
The Toyota Way is to begin with a focus on the value-adding operation.
This view would conclude that for the operator to be most effective,
there would have to be a minimum of walking and the operator should
be able to install a greater variety of parts. This leads to the understand-
ing that a greater variety of parts need to be delivered to the work area,
in a smaller space, and that the replenishment of parts should not require
the operator to remove parts from containers before they are needed
on the vehicle.
A lightweight “flow rack” can be constructed that will accommodate
a large variety of parts in a much smaller space. Since the containers
are smaller in height, the rack is designed to handle multiple levels, as
shown in a front view in Figure 4-6, and provides for the return of

10 Feet

Headlight Headlight Headlight Headlight
Style A Style B Style C Style D
Washer Rad.
Seatbelt Access.
Bottle Overflow
Empty Empty Empty Empty
Return Return Return Return

Figure 4-6. Front view of flow rack