Toyota applies 'Kaizen' to itself!

“Yes, we have a fantastic range of forklifts and reach trucks and yes, they do have many class-leading features all of which contribute to making us the world number one for forklifts”. “But, what really makes the difference are the Toyota values (or Toyota Way) and how we apply them in all aspects of the business from workshop through to boardroom”.

Many companies claim to have sets of values or principles but we all seem to have stories of how those values are ignored or set aside when it becomes inconvenient for the organisation to stick to them. “That’s a key thing at Toyota Material Handling, we don’t have these values because it’s trendy or as a talking point. Our values aren’t transient, they relate right back to our founder and they’re core to everything we do in the business” adds Buckley.

Continuous improvement

Take for example the concept of Kaizen. Quite a few people will have heard this Japanese word and know that it translates as ‘continuous improvement’. If you’ve ever attended a course or read an article on lean manufacturing, read about the Toyota Production System (TPS) or concepts like six sigma – then you’ll have come across this concept. It’s common for organisations to have a brief period of time where they attempt to improve different aspects of the business and then the idea falls out of favour. At Toyota we are focused on keeping Kaizen at the forefront of our minds, continuously improving for the sake of our colleagues, our owners and most importantly our customers.

Why would an internal value be of interest to our customers? There are two reasons: firstly, truly following continuous improvement means that we are constantly reviewing the experiences of our customers and making them better – which makes us easier to work with for our customers. Secondly, as a manufacturer ourselves, we make full use of the Toyota Production System. Meaning that we can share our experiences and insight with customers to help them deploy Toyota Production System thinking in their organisation. We’ve even had teams or experts in particular disciplines work with customers to help them implement a Kaizen approach in their environment. It’s worth mentioning that you don’t have to be a manufacturer to experience the benefits of Kaizen, as can be seen from the examples below, the whole organisation can find efficiencies and better ways of doing things.

Service environment

Toyota has one of the largest teams of lift truck technicians in the UK with hundreds of technicians based in the field all across the country providing Toyota’s famous customer service. The challenge of getting each engineer to the right location at the right time and providing them with the equipment and parts that they need is considerable. Yet, through applying continuous improvement it has been possible to simplify and meet these challenges. Toyota’s engineers have already made use of advanced technology for a number of years having been equipped with tablets to manage their work and communications. Today, they are benefiting from a system that Toyota has developed in partnership with Microsoft, T-Stream. This cutting-edge system further enhances each technician’s ability to resolve issues in the field, saving time and further improving the service we give to our customers.

Similar thinking has driven the implementation of Toyota’s I_Site telematics system that monitors how a forklift is being used, by whom and then identifies, communicates and records any issues, for example, heavy impacts. By virtue of being able to see this information remotely, a technician can rapidly identify what might be causing a problem and ensure that they have the necessary parts and equipment to resolve it – even before they attend the site.

The beauty of Kaizen is that it doesn’t need a hi-tech solution to bring big benefits. How can you improve the distribution of hundreds of parts each day to hundreds of engineers? The answer? Apply Toyota TPS ‘lean thinking’ to Parts distribution and arrange for the delivery service to have a key for each Toyota service van and they can deliver directly to the technician’s van overnight.

Production & Distribution

Toyota Kaizen and the TPS approach is used in our production facilities across Europe, but we also employ it at our engineering and warehousing facilities throughout the UK. A team from the UK recently completed a deep training session with one of Toyota’s global TPS experts – applying continuous improvement to themselves first, before bringing that knowledge back to further improve our operations.

Within our parts facility, improvement is being driven by creating LEAN champions and providing them with intensive Toyota Production System training. Through the application of these Kaizen processes, they are identifying more efficiency wins to make the distribution of parts work even better.

The Kaizen process has also identified that for many of our truck deliveries, there is no need for the truck to be delivered into a warehouse only to be delivered out again a few days later. By reworking the process, Toyota’s supply team is able to arrange for delivery direct to the customer with no loss of quality.

In the office

A Kaizen approach can identify opportunities to simplify and improve in any process or system and it doesn’t have to be a manufacturing or an engineering environment.

“In our own sales office, we identified that while the quotations we were sending to customers were okay, they weren’t standardised and perhaps didn’t make the value of Toyota’s offer as clear as it could be”. “This meant that we weren’t communicating as effectively as we could do, creating extra work for our own team,” says Buckley. The solution? By applying Toyota Production System thinking and specifically Kaizen a number of improvements were identified. “We did this through applying the concept of 5 Whys”. “Our proposals now get some great feedback for their clarity, they’re easier to use and standardised” says Buckley.

We’re also now applying Kaizen to our board meetings, team structures, locations and recruitment objectives, improving the environment for our colleagues, and making Toyota the place to work “The beauty of Kaizen is that it never ends” says Buckley.

Outcomes

By wholly embracing the Toyota Way and fully exploring the benefits of employing Kaizen, the organisation really does improve from week to week and year to year. This benefits not only Toyota Material Handling, but it benefits our customers as we are able to pass on the efficiency savings and productivity increases that we experience and means that we can provide an even better service. The benefits are more than financial, continuous improvement means that as a team we are continually evolving, changing and improving and this gives an engaging and interesting working environment. Continuous improvement even feeds into our sustainability goals, just one of the reasons why Toyota Material Handling UK has been awarded the industries only gold-level certification for sustainability by Ecovadis.

“As I said, it is about more than the trucks – it’s a whole new mindset every day” adds Buckley “but Kaizen thinking does also mean that our trucks are continuously improving in design, efficiency and safety”. “For example look at our new Traigo 80 high tonnage electric truck, its jam packed full of clever design and innovation – a great example being the battery compartment that has been redesigned to give the easiest battery change on this class-leading truck”. “That’s as a direct result of looking at how we can apply Kaizen to both our products and ourselves,” Buckley says.

To learn more about Kaizen, the Toyota Production System (TPS) or the new Traigo 80 visit Toyota’s website www.toyota-forklifts.co.uk. You can also request a copy of our free TPS whitepaper.