PLANO, Texas, Sept. 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ace Metal Crafts in
Bensenville, Ill., needed to find
a way to reduce their production lead time. Harbor-UCLA
Medical Center's eye clinic wanted to serve more patients. SBP
sought to reduce the amount of time it takes to rebuild homes after
natural disasters. These are some of the more than 300
organizations throughout North
America that have collaborated with Toyota to find better
ways of doing their day-to-day work.
For 25 years, Toyota Motor North America, through its Toyota
Production System Support Center (TSSC), has shared the "Toyota
Production System," (TPS) the same operational philosophy and
practices the company follows in its own factories to make
automobiles.
The company started sharing its know-how with small to mid-sized
manufacturers, later expanding and applying the system beyond
manufacturing to government entities, non-profits involved in
disaster recovery and hunger relief, and, more recently, healthcare
organizations.
Today, Toyota announced that its knowledge sharing efforts will
now be extended to sectors including retail and construction,
among other sectors in North
America.
"Our years of manufacturing experience have taught us that small
improvements in a process can make a big difference — and we've
learned that this approach can help other organizations outside of
manufacturing, too," said Terry
Horinouchi, president of TSSC. "Through our collaborations
over the years, our partners have acquired the knowledge to feed
more clients, build more homes, improve quality of care, gain more
business, and preserve or even create jobs in North America."
The goal of TSSC is to equip non-Toyota organizations with the
tools to solve operational problems, maximize available resources,
and preserve or even create jobs.
Through philosophies of TPS, ACE Metals Crafts reduced their
production lead time by 38 percent, retained their largest client
and added more jobs; Harbor-UCLA Medical Center reduced the time
from check-in to discharge by half for their patients and
increasing the number of new patients seen each day; and SBP
reduced the amount of time takes to rebuild a home after a natural
disaster from an average of 116 days to 60 days (48 percent
improvement).
"Toyota engages other organizations with our know-how so that
they can build a culture of continuous improvement," said
Chris Nielsen, executive vice
president of product support and chief quality officer of Toyota
Motor North America. "We see strong opportunity in organizations in
sectors other than automotive or manufacturing, and are excited to
see how TSSC can collaborate with them to help improve processes,
maximize operations, build more resilient communities, and serve
more people."
To commemorate the 25th anniversary, TSSC held an
event with various partners across sectors to share experiences and
academia to discuss TPS and how it is applied to various
organizations. Panels included, "Made in America: TPS in
manufacturing and much more" and "TPS in Healthcare:
Opportunities and Challenges Ahead."
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of
the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North
America for 60 years, and is committed to advancing
sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus
brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value
chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design,
engineering, and assembly of more than 33 million cars and trucks
in North America, where we operate
14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more
than 46,000 people (more than 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800
North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold almost
2.7 million cars and trucks (2.45 million in the U.S.) in 2016 –
and about 85 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 15
years are still on the road today.
Toyota partners with community, civic, academic, and
governmental organizations to address our society's most pressing
mobility challenges. We share company resources and extensive
know-how to support non-profits to help expand their ability to
assist more people move more places. For more information about
Toyota,
visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.
Media Contact:
Aaron Fowles
Aaron.Fowles@toyota.com
(469) 292-1097
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SOURCE Toyota Motor North America