during the engineering phase to source the entire chassis for the Tundra truck
to be built in a Toyota plant that had not yet been built in San Antonio, Texas.
To support the launch, Toyota asked that a large team of engineers be dedicated
to the project and that they spend significant time in Japan. They asked for a
full-time engineer to be stationed in Michigan near the Toyota Technical Center
(TTC), and for one and later two more engineers to be stationed full-time in
Japan to work alongside Toyota engineers.
It was extremely unusual for Toyota to give this much business to a brand
new supplier. But Toyota had told the Mexican government they would source
more product and build vehicles in Mexico in exchange for favorable tariff treat-
ment. Once this decision was made, Toyota set out to find suppliers with com-
patible cultures. They then started the long and resource-intensive process of
developing mutual understanding between Toyota and the supplier. This was
an investment that would span decades.
Given the significant investment by Metalsa in assigning many engineers to
work with Toyota, building prototypes, and investing in learning to work with
Toyota before ever getting paid, one might expect a degree of apprehension. But
on the contrary, Metalsa senior executives made an increase in Toyota business
one of the company’s top strategic objectives. They even offered to build a special
plant dedicated to Toyota parts near the border (which Toyota refused). Why?
They knew Toyota would be an honorable and reliable customer, their visibility
in the industry would go up considerably because they supplied Toyota, and that
they would learn a ton and get much better as a company.
Toyota suppliers speak in glowing terms about Toyota as reliable, capable, and
that the relationship causes them to get better at supplying Toyota products
and their own total business. A Toyota supplier put it this way:
Toyota has helped us dramatically improve our production system by coming in
and working with us side by side. On the commercial side, Toyota is very hands
on also. They come in and measure and work to get cost out of the system.... We
started with Toyota when they opened the Canadian plant with one component,
and as we improved performance we were rewarded, so we now have almost the
entire cockpit. Relative to all car companies we deal with, Toyota is the best cus-
tomer.
Many companies have certain suppliers that have been with them for many
years. And the customer and supplier get to know each other. But by “mutual
understanding,” we mean more than familiarity. Do you and your suppliers truly
understand each other at a working level? Do you understand their processes
in detail, enough to help them improve their processes? Do your suppliers or
customers respect your ability to understand their processes and make useful
suggestions? Is there trust in the relationship—trust that each party is out to
help the other be successful?
Chapter 12. Develop Suppliers and Partners 277