Feedback

Toyota Can't Get No Satisfaction

I could write pages about your profile of how Toyota works ("No Satisfaction," Dec 2006/Jan 2007). I have read and heard a lot about Toyota, but it wasn't until I read your article that I understood what it was all about. For me, a small line in the article summed up the key to its success: Only 10% of job applicants pass screening tests that include a team-building exercise. You cannot build a great company unless you have the right people to begin with. That's one of the reasons the Big Three will never be able to catch Toyota.

Edward Knapton
Cottage Grove, Wisconsin

I could not agree more with Mr. Fishman about what differentiates Toyota from the typical U.S. company. The difference is the philosophical approach to business between the two. Everything about how Toyota operates, starting with the corporate vision and moving through hiring, orientation, training, culture, incentive and pay systems--everything it does--fosters and supports the concepts of kaizen, the Japanese word for "continuous improvement." The philosophy is so ingrained in employees that it transcends the workday right into how employees think and act outside of the plant.

The typical approach for a U.S. firm is to bring in outside "experts" (like me, a consultant, speaker, trainer, and sometime writer on quality and excellence since 1990) to train a small percentage of people in how to "improve processes" and then let them take a "nibble at the edges" approach for a few years until either people lose interest or there's a management change at the top.

The culture at most American companies is one of celebrating the individual (or maybe a small team) for a one-time improvement, rather than relentlessly focusing on getting better all the time. It's too bad that more companies don't have the guts to do what it takes to implement a culture of continuous improvement.

Michael P. Levy
Danville, Virginia

Thank you for your well-balanced article on Toyota. Charles Fishman is one of the few authors who can stand back and critique best-in-class companies. I am sending this article to the senior management in my organization.

Parampal Singh
Mumbai, India

Toyota's "mind-set" is kicking everyone's behind with quality that translates into massive profitability. I agree with your article: Lean Six Sigma projects alone won't get you to Toyota quality, but a lean Six Sigma mind-set will.

Jay Arthur
Denver, Colorado

Great article. It's good to read that continual improvement can be fun to do and that it doesn't become boring. But if Western companies want kaizen, maybe they should start by helping change the educational system. I have never heard of a school that tries to improve the way it lectures. I do not know of a school that lets its employees and pupils take part in the improvement of how content is being taught. As long as people learn that they aren't allowed to better their surroundings, they won't be able to see improvement as an integral part of their lives.

Norman Dragt
Maastricht, Netherlands

Your article on Toyota's constant improvement is one of the best I have read on this topic. We still do not get the change of thinking that's necessary for this approach to work. I headed an early effort at this back in 1983 at Cummins Engine and was frustrated by our lack of real progress. As I struggled, I began to realize how fundamentally differently Komatsu (our customer and mentor on this) viewed work. I gave up my role internally and worked as a consultant with Kaizen Institute for many years. I worked with Chrysler and Ford and their suppliers. I could never get them off the "project" mentality even though I constantly emphasized the value in the change of thinking. There were too many MBAs enamored with "results" thinking.