Page 197 - Toyota Under Fire

TOYOT A UNDER FIRE

were unique to North America, like the Sienna minivan and the
Avalon. In 2006, TTC merged with TMMNA to create Toyota
Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America (TEMA),
integrating product development engineering and manufacturing
more closely, but leaving TMS and TMA quite separate.
Of course, none of the North American organizations are
truly independent entities: they all have to coordinate with and
are overseen by the Japanese parent company. For instance, his-
torically the majority of vehicle design and engineering was done
in Japan. Each region’s engineering department was responsible
only for specific customizations of the overall design for that par-
ticular region. The simplest example is probably Americans’ pen-
chant for cup holders, which took years to sell to the Japanese
engineers, as they were not familiar with the idea of going on
long trips and having drinks beside you. Similarly, the hard rub-
ber all-weather floor mats that led to the original 2007 floor mat
recall were designed in the United States in a part of Toyota Mo-
tor Sales USA that has its own engineers for locally installed ac-
cessories. Accessory design was done completely separately from
the engineering of the vehicle itself.
Despite Toyota’s massive growth around the world, core en-
gineering and design, postproduction engineering (dealing with
engineering changes to the vehicle after it is on the market),
and quality and safety remained centralized in Japan for several
reasons. First, the engineers who were most experienced in the
Toyota Way, TBP, and TPS were in Japan. Second, modern auto-
motive economics require large scale; in other words, the major-
ity of the design and engineering can’t be unique to one vehicle
or to one country or region. Camry, Prius, Tacoma, Corolla,
and other vehicles are sold around the world. Even vehicles for
which the vast majority of sales come in the United States, such

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