Page 81 - Toyota Under Fire

TOYOT A UNDER FIRE

[Prior to the shutdown,] we had Toyota Business Prac-
tices training for the manager level and above. Some of
our engineering groups had already started; they were
doing pretty well. But on the floor, there was almost no
training in problem solving. We were unfortunate, but
fortunate, we had this down period to train.

As the training progressed, the plant was able to take advan-
tage of the unique knowledge of different people. For example, the
assistant manager of security was a former Los Angeles detective.
A casual conversation with a member of a quality team about
how to approach a crime scene led to the security manager teach-
ing a course on investigating quality problems using detective
methods, including how to approach a scene, how to document
evidence with photographs, and even how to dust a car body, as
for fingerprints, in order to see dents and scratches more clearly.
At TMMTX, the quality-circle program was still very im-
mature. When the plant was running full tilt, team members had
very little time during the shift to participate actively in improve-
ment kaizen. As a result, few got the chance to lead a signifi-
cant problem-solving effort. They could develop a kaizen idea for
their own jobs, but rarely for a larger, more impactful problem
that affected multiple jobs.
This was particularly important at TMMTX because the plant,
filled with workers who were new to Toyota, was still trying to identify
those team members who had the potential to become team lead-
ers and group leaders. Quality circles provided an opportunity for
the best team members to learn and improve rapidly and for plant
managers to better evaluate the team members’ future potential.
Only eight pilot quality circles had been introduced in early
2008, led by assistant managers who had had previous experience

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