While recently visiting the Toyota Georgetown plant, I learned that there are only two primary job demands on all Toyota Team Members:
1) Come to work on-time everyday.
2) Pull the andon cord when there is a problem.
Interesting, think about that for a moment.
2 comments:
Many US companies struggle with those two simple demands. Just think of the countless effort put into attendance and time off policies not to mention the effort used ot enforce those. Lack of resources can certainly have an impact to organizations when unplanned.
And the stop culture is certaintly a struggle. Many really think acitivity equals productivity, no one will listen to me, just get through the day, etc.
There is a local consulting group GBMP - Bruce Hamiliton that uses the phrase "everybody, everyday". I think that sums it up well. Everybody do something everday to improve today for tomorrow.
Toyota can promot the philosophy of pulling the Andon cord when there is a problem because they have systems and a culture in place that solves the problems as they occur. Most western companies do not want problems to surface because they have no methods of 1. identifying the root cause and 2. no way of solving them anyway.
PDCA is so deceptively simple that most western companies dismiss it as a non viable tool, looking for something more expensive and dramatic, like a new piece of equipment.....
Post a Comment