TOYOTA ADAPTS TO THE OLDER WORKER

So, Toyota is the subject of so much in my life right now, that I have to just give in and become a champion as well. If only there were a place for everything and everything in its place in my life, I'm sure I would find about 30 minutes each day in discretionary time that I am now using looking for things. This weekend I cleaned my bathroom closet and one kitchen closet. I set up kanbans for dried fruit, cough medicine, lotion and hair ties. I'm excited by this homegrown PDCA that is relevant to both operations and management.

This from the NY Times piece this morning:

Workers on the plant floor used to choose the parts they needed to install on each vehicle from bins next to the assembly line. Now, a crew of workers upstairs loads the required parts into containers. The bins are placed inside the empty car bodies. Workers need only reach for the appropriate parts. After use, the bins are collected and sent upstairs to be refilled. The process will be part of the operation at Toyota’s new plant in Mississippi. It has cut Tsutsumi’s labor costs by 20 percent, said Osamu Ushio, general manager for the final assembly division, for two reasons.

First, cutting out the need to pick out parts shortened the training time for temporary workers, who make up one-third of the work force at Tsutsumi.

Second, older Japanese workers who are guaranteed lifetime employment by Toyota but can no longer handle the physical tasks of building cars can shift to loading containers.

The article can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/business/worldbusiness/22toyota.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin, which really is about Toyota's international training facility.

Another interesting link on the subject of Toyota's globalization:
http://blogs.iht.com/tribtalk/business/globalization/?p=659