Today we visited the Toyota Motomachi plant. We talked about Toyota a little bit in my operations management class but to actually see the process in person and the efficiency they strive for was very cool. In the plant they have these colorful happy pictures hanging from the ceiling, I can only assume to keep the workers moods up. They also had strange musical tunes playing over the speakers like itsy bitsy spider and other songs like that. I noticed how the cars in the assembly line were all different types of cars, not just one model, probably to keep the workers on their toes and to help prevent boredom. I don't know if they do that at GM or not. Toyota uses a Just-In-Time production techiques, which I am sure many people know. The card system they use I heard about in class but it makes more sense when I actually saw it in action. When a bin is emptied the worker puts a card in the front and someone else fills it and takes the card out. It seemed like a very efficient way to do things. Another thing I found interesting was how they kept stressing the importance of harmony with the machines and workers. Harmony seemed like a very big deal to Toyota; I'm not sure if that has to do with the Japanese culture or not but they definitely put that into the business. I liked the fact that every worker had a part in the inspection process and if they noticed something wrong they had a rope right next to their work station that they pulled to call someone over to help fix the problem. If they can't fix the problem within an allotted amount of time the assembly line shuts down in order to fix the problem. This greatly helps reduce the waste and defects in the Toyota company and it is probably why they are so successful because every worker feels like they are a part of the success of the company and they strive to be the best.
I really liked the visted to the Toyota factory. After the factory visit we went to the Toyota museum and I think I may have seen the car of the future:) It was pretty cool looking!
-Lauren
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