Wow! A New Toyota Every 3.9 Seconds?

The faster the assembly line rolls the more mistakes will take place unless the cars are built by CNC machines and robots.

— EL34 (View Profile)

Posted on 12/15/2006 2:34:18 PM | | Votes: -3   

When you go and get a hamburger at a fast food place I've found the best time to go is when it's busy because you know the hamburger was just made and hasn't sat under a heat lamp for 2 hours.

But with cars I like them built a little slower than a hamburger.

— EL34 (View Profile)

Posted on 12/15/2006 2:54:27 PM | | Votes: 0   

actually, Toyota's Just-In-Time methods are a cornerstone for mass production in any manufacturing field. They have mastered a way in which to produce enough high quality products to meet demand fast enough and efficiently enough while keeping costs and inventory low and product satisfaction high...that's one of the main reasons that they are so profitable.

— NARunner (View Profile)

Posted on 12/15/2006 3:04:10 PM | | Votes: 8   

Toyota's methods are frequently used in college textbooks to help illustrate manufacturing efficiency coupled with high product quality.

— NARunner (View Profile)

Posted on 12/15/2006 3:05:35 PM | | Votes: 5   

and EL-

Toyota doesn't use a rolling assembly line, they use what the Japanese call a "kanban" system. Parts are moved from station to station as workers finish with previous parts. The parts are not pushed along at a predetermined speed or rate, rather they are pulled through at the rate which the machines and workers are working. This actually is meant to reduce the amount of errors in production because machines and workers are not hurrying to get things done.

And in reference to your fast food comment, most fast food joints have a adopted a similar system modeled after Toyota's. They know that when there are a certain number of people in line (say, 5 people) they need to have 7 patties on and 3 french fries frying. This way, they don't have to keep burgers under the heat lamps, or at least not as many :D

— NARunner (View Profile)

Posted on 12/15/2006 3:14:34 PM | | Votes: 6   

Are there any books about the Toyota way of building things?

— EL34 (View Profile)

Posted on 12/15/2006 3:47:53 PM | | Votes: -1   

So I found this at Wikipedia about the Kanban philosophy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban

— EL34 (View Profile)

Posted on 12/15/2006 3:53:03 PM | | Votes: 1   

I'm sure there are...I don't own any. My senior year of college, I took an information systems course that focused on efficiency and we studied the automotive industry (namely Toyota) for about a month and spent a month on the fast food industry, so I'm not expert, but that is just what I remember.

There has to be something on Amazon.com or something.

— NARunner (View Profile)

Posted on 12/15/2006 3:53:24 PM | | Votes: 5   

[edit] The Toyota Production System
Toyota has long been recognized as the automotive industry leader (as well as compared to all other businesses, in general) in manufacturing and production. This system, more than any other part of the company, is responsible for having made Toyota the company it is today.

It’s ironic that Toyota, who has constantly been taking away Ford an GM’s market share in the United States, got their inspiration for the production system in the United States. This occurred when a Delegation from Toyota visited the United States to study its commercial enterprises. Naturally, they first visited Ford automotive plants in Michigan, but, despite Ford being the auto industry leader at that time, found their methods to be unappealing. They were mainly appalled by the large amounts of inventory that were laying around and how the amount of work being done by the various departments within the factory were uneven on most days. However, the Toyota Delegation first got inspiration for their production system at an American Supermarket (a Piggly Wiggly, to be precise). They saw the virtue in the supermarket only reordering and restocking goods once they’d been bought by customers.

Toyota applied the lesson from Piggly Wiggly by reducing the amount of inventory they would hold only to a level that its employees would need for a small period of time, and then subsequently reorder. This is highly representative of a Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory system.

While low inventory levels certainly is a key component to the Toyota Production System, just as important is the philosophy behind its system to work intelligently and eliminate waste. In Jeffrey Liker’s the Toyota Way, these principles are outlined as follows: 1. Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term goals 2. Create continuous process flow to bring problems to surface 3. Use “pull” systems to avoid overproduction 4. Level out the workload 5. Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time 6. Standardized tasks are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment 7. Use visual control so no problems are hidden 8. Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes 9. Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others 10. Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company’s philosophy 11. Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve 12. Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation (genchi genbutsu) 13. Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options; implement decisions rapidly 14. Become a learning organization through relentless reflection and continuous improvement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota#The_Toyota_Production_System

— EL34 (View Profile)

Posted on 12/15/2006 3:54:17 PM | | Votes: 1   

That has some merit, but the flip side is, the more labour in a car, the more chances for someone to screw up.
The number of cars produced has nothing to do with the total number built on its own. Its a function of the number of assembly lines running in parallel.

I think that the best generalization that you can make is "the faster a car is DESIGNED, the more recalls that model will have".

— DieselRules (View Profile)

Posted on 12/15/2006 6:09:55 PM | | Votes: 0   

pity the ignoramuses who do not TAKE ADVANTAGE of toyota's FREE quality and reliability.

(they COULD charge a premium price for these virtues. like the germans do, except they HAVE NO "extra" quality and reliability. they have a DEFICIT instead! lol!)

— XYZZ (View Profile)

Posted on 12/16/2006 4:23:31 AM | | Votes: 1   

AHHHHH LEXUS DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!

— S4cabriofoxone (View Profile)

Posted on 12/16/2006 4:50:39 PM | | Votes: 1   

You're kidding another lexus person. how many people are their with lexus in their name on this forum. Difficult people to talk to. go a head de-boost me now i want to know how many of you are out there.

— SilverAero (View Profile)

Posted on 12/17/2006 12:33:14 AM | | Votes: 2   

if the U.S. government won't regulate oil prices, they sure as hell won't regulate automotive production.

We're in a capitalist world, governments want to be laissez-fair with business and keep competition high. Passing production regulations limits competition and we, the consumers, actually suffer most of the time because prices go up.

— NARunner (View Profile)

Posted on 12/15/2006 3:22:47 PM | | Votes: 2   

I read somewhere that 3.9 seconds after buying a toyota product people get smug about it.

— SilverAero (View Profile)

Posted on 12/17/2006 12:39:42 AM | | Votes: 2   

I read somewhere that someone is born every eight seconds and dies every twelve.

— S4cabriofoxone (View Profile)

Posted on 12/17/2006 1:10:29 AM | | Votes: 1   

You know that's an 'if' Toyota comes out with the Supra.

— EL34 (View Profile)

Posted on 12/15/2006 9:56:32 PM | | Votes: 1