TOYOTA MOTOR NORTH AMERICA
The digital evolution of the Toyota Production System( TPS) The Toyota Production System( TPS) is one of the best-known management philosophies in manufacturing history. Traditionally associated with the factory floor and the elimination of waste, TPS is being redefined for the digital age. Rather than being seen as a rigid set of manual tools, it is now viewed as a system for empowering people to solve problems at digital speeds.
Chris describes the translation as seamless:“ Digitalisation in a lot of ways adds speed, right? It allows us to diagnose problems, analyse, collect the data that would be needed to analyse a process to identify where are the weak points, where are the things we need to improve?
“ So we feel like, as we’ re beginning to digitalise TPS tools, for example, it’ s allowing us to move even faster than we have in the past.”
“ We made the important decision back in 2014... to really unify those two affiliates together. That’ s how we ended up where we are today in Plano, Texas at our headquarters”
Ryan Grimm Group Vice President, Toyota Purchasing Supplier Development Toyota Motor North America
This digital version of TPS maintains a human-centric core. Kevin says that, while it is easy to see physical flow in a warehouse, observing a business process that spans months and multiple geographies is harder.
Digital capabilities bring“ observability” to these invisible workflows. By creating feedback loops – such as using consumer search data to refine forecasts rather than relying on historical sales – Toyota can see“ true demand” and adjust the entire supply chain accordingly.
Building two-way connectivity with suppliers On a typical vehicle, 75 % of the content is outsourced, and there are over 1,000 locations just within North America that receive demand signals.
Ryan Grimm, Group Vice President, Toyota Purchasing Supplier Development, says:“ So the integration with the suppliers and their ability or buy-in to come along on this and support this is absolutely critical.”
Ryan emphasises that partnerships are foundational to Toyota’ s success. The organisation has moved beyond“ demand signals” toward what it calls“ two-way supplier connectivity”.
Historically, a manufacturer might send a demand signal and hope for the best. Today, the TMNA platform allows for real-time integration. Kevin provides a compelling example involving an interior trim supplier. The system flagged a demand spike eight weeks before it became a crisis.
12 toyota. com