On one particular tour with some Big Three plant managers, one of the
visitors commented to his associates, “Get a look at this. We haven’t
used that technology for at least 15 years!” The outdated technology
seemed to be the center of their attention. They completely overlooked
other elements of the production system that they had struggled with
in their plants. One of the visitors inadvertently walked into a robot cell
and shut the robot down. He didn’t even realize that this had hap-
pened, and a team leader came over and restarted the robot in less
than a minute, before any loss of production occurred. The tour guide
pointed this out to the plant manager and asked him how long it
would take to restart a robot or line in his plant if it had been stopped.
His response was, “Maybe 10 or 15 minutes,” and then he went on
complaining about the outdated technology, without understanding
that it is not the technology that is critical, but rather, the people who
use the technology and the total system.
Toyota robots have considerably higher reliability and uptime than those
in Big Three plants. Its flexible global body line that can flexibly make
trucks and minivans and car bodies in any order without missing a
beat is the envy of the industry. And it is full of robots all operating in
harmony. Any robot goes down and the body line goes down. But
they rarely go down. Most auto makers would be concerned about
old technology. Toyota believes that the worst state of the technology
should be when it is out of the box and then it improves with age
through regular maintenance and continuous improvement.What Do You Believe About Technology, People, and Processes?
The starting point of thinking is what you believe. It is also what you value. If
you believe that technology is the solution to your problems or if you value
being the kid with the best technological toys on the block, you will not get lean.
The Toyota Way always starts with the customer. What does the customer
want? Then ask what process will add value to the customer with minimum
waste. Then recognize that any process you can concoct will still be full of
waste. Getting out the waste takes time and experience with the process: It is a
learning process of continuous improvement, and only those working in and
managing the process can improve it on a day-to-day basis.
Thinking in this way is a belief system. The principles of the Toyota Way are
a set of beliefs in what works. It is part of the culture of Toyota. So any new tech-
nology must fit into this broader system and philosophy:
◆ How will technology contribute to the value adding process?
◆ How will technology help to eliminate waste?