Akio Toyoda Quotes

However, one intriguing shift that suggests there are limits to automation was the recent decision by Toyota to systematically put working humans back into the manufacturing process. In quality and manufacturing on a mass scale, Toyota has been a global leader in automation technologies based on the corporate philosophy of kaizen (Japanese for “good change”) or continuous improvement. After pushing its automation processes toward lights-out manufacturing, the company realized that automated factories do not improve themselves. Once Toyota had extraordinary craftsmen that were known as Kami-sama, or “gods” who had the ability to make anything, according to Toyota president Akio Toyoda.49 The craftsmen also had the human ability to act creatively and thus improve the manufacturing process. Now, to add flexibility and creativity back into their factories, Toyota chose to restore a hundred “manual-intensive” workspaces.

But everything changed when Toyota embarked on a headlong dash to become the number-one carmaker in the world. Management overreached, lost control of the supply chain, and ignored warnings from the factory floor. They started putting out fires without asking why those fires were breaking out in the first place. Result: a recall of more than ten million faulty vehicles, which shredded the firm’s reputation, wiped out billions of dollars in revenue, and unleashed a barrage of lawsuits. In 2010, Akio Toyoda, the company’s chastened president, explained how Toyota fell from grace to the U.S. Congress: “We pursued growth over the speed at which we were able to develop our people and our organization.” Translation: we stopped pulling the andon rope and fell for the quick fix.