You don’t see Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Suzuki, and Mitsubishi hanging out together without a racing helmet or a joint venture agreement getting in the way every day. But that’s exactly what happened in Japan this summer, when rival automakers gathered at Toyota’s Tahara factory to talk about something surprisingly mundane: quality standards.
More than 100 automotive industry professionals showed up for an unusual meeting in late July. Toyota’s quality-control teams and suppliers were joined by purchasing and quality personnel from its domestic rivals. Rather than arguing about who makes the better car, they looked at individual parts and discussed how manufacturers can make their production processes more efficient.
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