M4E #12: Toyota Corolla Hybrid Manufacturing
Last week we talked about Jidoka and how Toyota implemented this methodology in order to avoid defects in the manufacturing chain. Now it’s time to see some Toyota action! In this video we can see the whole assembly line for the Toyota Corolla Hybrid in Turkey
Time for Insights… and Homework!
Try to find Andon cords in the video! There’s one moment where one of them is explicitly shown.
How do you think that the existence of defects is checked? Some different ways can be seen in the video.
You can see some operations where people are working over their heads. This is not ergonomically recommended, so people in these situations shall be frequently rotated. We will see more of this issue and other ergonomic risks in later videos.
In the first process steps many robots are used to build the car, however some board members at Toyota have argued that “Robots do not improve processes. Only humans can improve processes. That's why they should always be the focus”. Automation must help workers and relieve them from repetitive and heavy tasks that may be a cause of injure. Read more about this here.