Chicago Tribune | Lafayette plant gets Toyota treatment
“While General Motors and Ford are closing plants to reduce excess production capacity, Toyota will detail plans to build more cars in the U.S. at an underutilized Subaru plant in Lafayette, Ind., on Monday.”
It's widely rumored to be increased Camry production, which means Toyota can produce all U.S. sold Camry's in the U.S.
It's too bad more manufacturers can't figure out how to economically produce products for the U.S. market here. Through lean, we can help!
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Mark Graban
Mark Graban is an internationally-recognized consultant, author, and professional speaker who has worked in healthcare, manufacturing, and startups. His latest book is Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More. He is author of the Shingo Award-winning books Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, as well as The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen. He also published the anthology Practicing Lean that benefits the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation, where Mark is a board member. Mark is also a Senior Advisor to the technology company KaiNexus.
Isn’t it amazing to see how closely Toyota and other Japanese auto makers are following the Deming philosophy? Deming stated that you should work with and share knowledge with your competitors.
Subaru and Toyota building automobiles in the same facility…this cooperation is not something you would see in U.S. companies. U.S. firms should adopt the philosophy that ‘perfection’ is our only true competitor.
I agree with you on Deming, but it isn’t so much a case of cooperation among competitors. Toyota bought a share in Subaru that GM sold off.