Toyota discloses unprecedented details of F1 development

In the spirit of kaizen, improvement has become an ongoing process: “At the beginning of 2005 we asked if we had solved the problems from last year, and can we improve and go to the next step? And for 2006 we’ve done the same.” Among the changes has been the introduction of a kanban ordering system. For example, when suspension parts are required – possibly in a hurry after accident damage depletes stocks – the information gets through.

The overall improvement in the efficiency of the composites department has had clear benefits, allowing the team to stun the opposition by introducing entire new cars and development parts with impressive speed. When the definitive TF 06 aerodynamic package is readied for the season opener in Bahrain, the team will have the capacity to build revised parts, including suspension, that are optimised for that package.

“It allows us to do that,” says Mike Gascoyne. “Other teams might not be able to optimise things in that area because they wouldn’t be able to make all-new suspension for the first race. We can also do an all-new suspension for the TF 06B when it comes along later in the year.

You make fewer examples of each part now, but it still impacts on production because of the patterns and moulds of new components. You have to have a production system that can deal with it, and TPS enables us to do that.”

OPERATION: PIT STOP

It goes without saying that F1 is all about team work, and no element of the sport demonstrates that more clearly than pit stops. Up to six times during every Grand Prix the Panasonic Toyota Racing pit crew members demonstrate their skills as they service the cars of Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli, and get them back onto the track with the minimum of delay.

Every one of the 20 team members directly involved in the stops knows that the tiniest mistake can prove costly. Naturally in common with other F1 teams the guys spend many hours practising, both back at base in Cologne and on actual Grand Prix weekends.

However, Panasonic Toyota Racing has been able to go a step further by applying the principles of the Toyota Production System to pit stops, in order to make them as efficient as possible. This is a high profile exercise that has provided the whole F1 organisation with a perfect introduction to the benefits to be derived from TPS. And it was personally set in motion at the suggestion of former Toyota Motor Corporation President Fujio Cho after he visited the 2002 Malaysian Grand Prix.

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