The Toyota way comes down to five key manufacturing principles: Challenge, Kaizen (improvement), Genchi Genbutsu (go and see), Respect and Teamwork.
Define, standardise, eliminate waste, improve
The Toyota Altona plant manufactured just over 140,000 vehicles — a combination of Camrys and Aurions — for the domestic market in 2008. Like all other Toyota plants, the Altona outfit implements the Toyota Production System, which is the practical embodiment of the five principles.
But in the last 12 months the plant has also seen the introduction of the Hybrid Camry.
Toyota Information Systems Division divisional manager, James Scott, says while many of its global systems were developed in Japan (and guarded closely), the plant also rolled out new IT systems with the new model locally.
“The factory simulation tool and motion capture is where we are designing the manufacturing process on computer systems before they even become a manufacturing process,” he says. “It is all about looking at how to do things efficiently and how to improve safety, especially with repetitive type injuries and muscular strain.
We used these systems this time around and there was a lot of work there to build the Hybrid Camry as the most efficient and safest way possible.
“We have a system called Factory Simulation Tools, which is kind of like a digital factory. But the motion capture is also using a product called TEBA as a result of an investigation into what Japan is using in North America. The University of Michigan, which specialises in ergonomics, developed it jointly with Toyota.
“We’ve invested heavily in it due to the potential savings in the manufacturing process and, more importantly, in improving safety.”
TEBA — the Toyota Ergonomic Burden Assessment tool — aims to estimate how working on the production line can affect physical health. By taking video of work processes and measuring the different forces involved the various stakeholders can analyse the data to look for ways to improve; in other words, following the Kaizen ethos.
“We have a zero harm president’s goal and there is a quite a bit of effort put into, not just new models, but the continual building of existing models to have zero harm for all our employees,” Scott explains.
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