What makes Toyota tick?
Our special report takes you inside Toyota manufacturing

Toyota has been coined “the most feared automaker in the industry.” In 2005, Toyota’s global production hit record numbers, reaching eight million vehicles worldwide. Its plants — such as Ontario’s Cambridge facility — are exceeding capacity, while other auto manufacturers are closing plants. Its well-reviewed line of products at the 2006 North American International Auto Show also shows the Japanese auto giant isn’t about to lose steam any time soon. This phenomenon has many manufacturers and competitors asking the question: what is Toyota’s secret?

Walk into any advanced manufacturing facility across North America and you’ll see traces of Toyota. You can hear it in the shoptalk punctuated with Japanese phrases, you can see it in the Kaizen blitzes and the kanban techniques. You’ll spot it in the flat managerial structure, the teamwork mentality, and the concept of flow — all of which embody the Japanese principle “wa,” a cultural trait that plays down individualism while promoting harmony.

To an outsider, the practices seem to stem from Japanese cultural values. But to Ray Tanguay, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, (TMMC), his company’s innovative business strategy and the country it came from are two completely separate factors. “Toyota is very much based on the Toyota Culture,” says Tanguay. “Of course, there are some common traits — such as teamwork, which is very common in Japan, and consensus. But in order to be the best at it, Toyota has developed the Toyota Way which is more conducive to problem solving and more engaging.”

Still, many companies have attempted to copy Toyota’s problem solving and employee engagement strategies. But despite the well-publicized mechanics of the Toyota Way; despite the best-selling book of the same name; despite the thousands of seminars taught each year — no one has come close to replicating the success of this growing automobile maker. There must then be some other ingredient — another intangible, perhaps cultural, difference — that sets this manufacturer apart from its North American competitors.

Whatever it is, it’s alive and well inside Toyota’s Cambridge, Ont. facility. Since setting up shop here in 1988 with a modest goal of producing 50,000 vehicles a year, the branch has expanded its model line-up and its plant’s footprint to produce more than 300,000 vehicles in 2005 — namely the Lexus RX 330, the Corolla and the Matrix.

http://www.advancedmanufacturing.com/JanFeb06/coverstory.htm