Unique not-for-profit shares the power of the
Toyota Production System to help support communities
and businesses
PLANO,
Texas, March 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- How does
decades of assembling some of the world's best vehicles help
improve small and mid-sized manufacturers, food banks, health care
providers and government agencies?
For more than 30 years, Toyota Production System Support Center
(TSSC), a not-for-profit corporation, has shared its know-how with
more than 500 partners. Its teachings are based on the Toyota
Production System (TPS), an organizational manufacturing culture
and mindset that engages people to continuously make improvements
and create solutions.
In celebration of its 30th anniversary, TSSC today
joined with its partners and experts to reflect on its history and
look toward its future.
Utilizing TPS, TSSC operates on the philosophy that small
improvements can make a big difference, not only inside Toyota but
with outside organizations as well. This approach has seen
transformative results in unexpected places for an automaker,
including hospitals, food banks, health care providers and local
businesses.
By sharing its knowledge to find better ways of doing their
day-to day work, achieve higher productivity, maximize resources,
and improve quality and safety, TSSC helps partners stay
competitive, preserve jobs and support more people and communities
in need.
"Sharing ideas to find better ways of doing things demonstrates
that small improvements can make a big difference while enriching
peoples' lives and making communities stronger," said James
Bonini, president of TSSC. "We've learned that sharing our
know-how gained from years of automaking experience can help
others, and TSSC has been fortunate to help a variety of partners
make a positive impact in the communities where they operate."
Established 1992, TSSC has 15 full-time employees who travel
throughout North America and
execute up to 50 projects annually. Partner companies and
organizations are for- and non-profits, and through strong
collaboration, solutions are identified, tested and implemented to
drive performance.
Examples of TSSC Projects and Results
St. Bernard Project
Six years after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, thousands of people still had not
been able to return to their homes. St. Bernard Project (SBP), a
non-profit home rebuilding group, could not keep up with demand and
began collaborating with TSSC to reduce customer wait time in the
rebuilding of houses while increasing quality, productivity and
safety.
By implementing various TPS techniques, SBP was able to
accomplish the following:
- The time it took to rebuild a home dropped from an average of
116 days to 60, a 48 percent improvement
- Amount of houses being rebuilt per month jumped from 8.6 to
12.8
- Improved quality, safety and processes, including the use of
visual tools to track schedules and inventory
"Initially Toyota showed us how to build faster to get disaster
victims home sooner," said Zack
Rosenburg, founder and CEO of SBP. "Now we have taken
kaizen – this notion of getting better every day – and put tools
and solutions in place to mitigate the impact of a disaster before
it happens and in the immediate aftermath. This work is
critical so that disaster victims can see a quicker path to
recovery."
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Helping the underserved population in the Southwestern Los Angeles
County region for nearly 80 years, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center's Eye
Clinic had a backlog of patients who required care; however, their
surgical waitlist was hundreds of patients long. In several
instances, patients were going blind while waiting months to be
seen by doctors.
By applying TPS concepts, the Eye Clinic was able to accomplish
the following:
- The time from check-in to discharge for patients was cut in
half
- Doubled the number of patients being treated
- Eliminated surgical waitlist
"Over a two-year period, we took a surgical backlog that was
hundreds of patients long, and we eliminated it," said Pradeep Prasad, MD, chief of ophthalmology,
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. "This is our hospital, and Toyota came
in to teach us how we can identify ways to do better. I never would
have thought that implementing TPS would help save lives, or keep
people from going blind, but it has."
For more information about TSSC's work, or to inquire about its
services, please visit TSSC.com.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of
the cultural fabric in North
America for more than 65 years, and is committed to
advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota
and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800
dealerships.
Toyota directly employs more than 48,000 people in
North America who have contributed
to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 45 million cars
and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota's
14th plant in North
Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for
electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road
than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 22 electrified
options.
Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights
the way it partners with community, civic, academic and
governmental organizations to address our society's most pressing
mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move,
anything is possible. For more information about Toyota,
visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
Media contact:
Victor Vanov
victor.vanov@toyota.com
469.292.1318
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SOURCE Toyota Motor North America