Page 80 - Toyota Under Fire

THE OIL CRISIS AND THE GREA T RECESSION

most cases, the robots and equipment used in the production
of a vehicle would be at least eight years old and nearing the end
of their life cycle by the time the plant stopped making that ve-
hicle. However, Tundra production had been halted at TMMI
after only two years, so the old welding robots and light curtains
were salvaged to use again. Carts and racks that would normally
have been purchased from outside were built in-house from scrap
metal. Even an old overhead catwalk used by maintenance was
salvaged and made into carts. Through the initiative and co-
operation of team members, a $4 million budget line item was
trimmed to just $700,000.
TMMTX in San Antonio was also idled for three months
when the bottom dropped out of the truck market in the summer
of 2008, but unlike TMMI, it built only Tundras, so the entire
plant, along with its 21 on-site suppliers, built absolutely nothing
during this period. San Antonio used the time to perform orga-
nized training and daily kaizen, similar to TMMI. The plant col-
lected all the training modules that it had used at start-up. Gaps
remained, however, and the plant developed an additional 30
training modules to fill them. Ultimately, the training included
about 90 modules across team members, team leaders, and group
leaders. The topics were wide-ranging and quite similar to curric-
ula for some two-year associate degrees—for instance, statistical
methods for quality control, ergonomics analysis, work hazards
training, line balancing, and equipment maintenance.
Once the training began, it became clear how big a gap there
was between the level of capability that Toyota aspired to for
team members and the reality of what it had. Even in Toyota’s
core competency of problem solving, the skill level was less than
ideal. TMMTX plant manager Dan Antis explained:

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