Toyota wants better quality in Europe

By Luca Ciferri, Automotive News Europe

Brussels -- Toyota Motor Europe is re-emphasising the importance of quality on the assembly line to reduce post-production inspections and repairs.

Next year Toyota will open a so-called Global Production Centre in the UK to train European workers how to make cars better. The first such center started in Japan two years ago. A third will open next year in the US.

"The customer should be protected from any inconvenience," said Shinichi Sasaki, CEO of Toyota Motor Europe, in an interview here.

Sasaki, formerly responsible for quality for TME parent Toyota Motor Corp., admitted the company's fast growth, which has led to new plants plus rapid recruitment in Japan and overseas, may have hurt its "built-in quality" culture.

In October, Toyota recalled 1.4 million units worldwide of 16 models -- its biggest recall ever - because of problems with headlight switches.

Sasaki said a recall does not necessarily mean quality is deteriorating. "We prefer to pro-act than to react to possible problems for our customers," he said.

Part of Toyota's quality deterioration comes from swelling production, which has also put its suppliers under pressure to grow.

Sasaki insists that quality must be "built in" to the process, not "inspected out." This means that all parts of the process -- manufacturing, but also design, r&d, purchasing and human resources -- must assure quality.

The training centres will help less experienced workers and new plants absorb Toyota's culture of quality faster.

Like other manufacturers, Toyota has increased sharing of components across various models. This cost-saving measure affects the quality side: the more parts are shared, the more any problems are magnified.

Toyota global production, in millions of units

2000  2001   2002   2003   2004
5.89  5.85   6.31   6.83   7.55

Source: Automotive News Data Center

From Automotive News Europe (A Crain publication)