Toyota discloses unprecedented details of F1 development

“We concentrated a lot on fuelling, because tyre changes were not an issue in terms of the length of stops. You’re actual fuelling time is dictated by the flow of the rig, but you can make time up in how you stop the car, how you connect the rig on, how you disconnect it. We found a lot of time there, purely in the methods that our guys used.”

In fact the rules are changed again for 2006, and regular race tyre changes are back. Toyota is well prepared: “We have never stopped the process that we started two years ago, and I think this will help us in 2006.”

“Basically when we do the training now it’s controlled by me and the chief mechanic. TPS gives us a clear approach the whole improvement concept, by means of filming what we’re doing, looking at it, involving the people that do the particular job to come up with ideas to improve things.”

That sharing of knowledge is also a perfect example of TPS in action: “Now when somebody new comes into the pit stops, for example if there’s a change of mechanic, it’s the guys themselves who train that person up. The people who are actually doing the job undertake to train the new person, and that’s team work.”

Cregan says that there could not have been a better advertisement for the benefits of TPS in the F1 organisation.

“It is a very successful project. I think because our pit stop performance was such a public show of strength over the last couple of years, and a clear improvement was seen from race to race and year to year, people have started to see the advantage of working within the TPS system and it is a never-ending process. It really helps to strengthen that whole ethos within the Toyota F1 team. It is a team effort, and it works very well. It’s also a very public demonstration of the TPS project. We are on show every race day, and everybody can watch on TV and put a stop watch on it!”

GLOSSARY

Genchi Genbutsu (“Going to the Source”)

...continued