Page 203 - Toyota Under Fire

TOYOT A UNDER FIRE

failure to adhere to the Toyota Way principle of genchi genbutsu.
Those on the ground who had a detailed understanding of the con-
text and environment were in the United States, while decisions
were being made by relatively uninformed engineers and manag-
ers in Japan. Toyota had been working for decades to develop re-
gional self-reliance, and it was at the center of Global Vision 2010
in North America. Yet a decade later, the recall crisis showed how
far the company still had to go. This was a question not just of the
capability of regions to be self-reliant, but of headquarters trusting
the regions to act in accordance with the Toyota Way.
Finally awakening to the depth of the problem started Toyota
on the path to turning the crisis into opportunity. That meant
moving from just reacting to the problem to delving into its
source and resolving the root cause in a way that would move the
company closer to True North. The Toyota Way 2001 defines
the company’s True North as respect for people and continuous
improvement. Therefore, the resolution of the underlying prob-
lems had to demonstrate respect for customers, the government,
communities, partners, and team members, especially those out-
side of Japan; and the resolution had to be not just mitigation,
but a positive step toward bringing the company to a new level
of performance.

Weakness in Listening to the Customers

For all of the reasons discussed, Toyota was not living up to its
high standards of listening to its customers—a fundamental sin
in the Toyota Way. A great deal of work was needed to go back
to the basics of customer focus as required by the Toyota Way.
It started with improved mechanisms for listening to the cus-

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