Toyota discloses unprecedented details of F1 development

The Toyota Way can thus perhaps be compared with karate. You learn the kata, or the moves, much like you would develop problem-solving skills. But whether you can really break a brick or not depends on how you can marshal your mental capacity and bring your focus upon it. That is what makes the difference between just knowing the methodology, and being able to really pull it off in a powerful and successful way.

An important group of tools comes under the umbrella of the world renowned Toyota Production System. The roots of TPS go back as far as 897, when company founder Sakichi Toyoda patented a design for a loom that stopped whenever one of the threads snapped. In so doing he reduced muda, and that principle was developed further by his son Kiichiro, and refined in the 950s by legendary manager Taiichi Ohno. The essence of TPS is increasing efficiency through the elimination of waste in all areas through kaizen.

In recent years efforts have been made to foster the adoption of Toyota Way principles throughout the Formula 1 team, and great progress has been made via specific projects based on TPS thinking.

Toyota Motorsport President John Howett has keenly encouraged that process: “Part of the reason Toyota came into Formula 1 was to get people to understand more what Toyota is as a company, especially in Europe. It’s seen as a bit grey and amorphous, big and powerful. But what really makes Toyota successful? Toyota is passionate about building extremely high quality products, but they’ve found that the most important factor is people.

The Toyota Way is common sense and empowering the people who do the job to improve their daily process, rather than a top down management philosophy. That’s the essence of the way Toyota works as a company. What Toyota uses are tools that try to encourage people to use common sense.”

The advantages have come to be appreciated by all in the team, including those who have spent their careers within the unique environment of motor sport. “I came in and organised the wind tunnel and drawing office,” says Mike Gascoyne. “A lot of it was common sense, a sensible way of approaching and doing things. I was used to working in a Formula 1 environment, but when you implement TPS you realise there are a lot of similarities with what you’re trying to do anyway. Within the Toyota Way, it’s basically formalised.

It is important that the team retains the culture of its parent company. We are a Toyota company set up to be part of Toyota, and that is a difference. What you have to do is get the best of both worlds, so you react like a Formula 1 team can, but then you employ the systems that give you a benefit.”

TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM (TPS)

...continued