Learning from Mistakes and Remembering Why We are Here

Our guest speaker, Mr. Ron Haigh, highlighted the history of the automobile, and how Toyota evolved into the international success we all know today.

Beginning with company founders Sakichi Toyoda and Kichiro Toyoda we learned how the company adapted from early mistakes to continually improve its operations. One of the key principles to this ongoing improvement explained was Monozukuri, which is a key component of Japanese industry but is also a mainstay of the Tokai business scene, monozukuri states that the goal is to add value to society by producing things of exceptional value and to do so under the spirit of kaizen or the 'spirit to produce excellent products and the ability to constantly improve a production system and process'.

Another key principle introduced by Mr. Haigh is Jidoka, which is the process of man and machine working in unison to create products in order to benefit society. This was highlighted in the viewing of the Toyota assembly line through a DVD presentation showing how Toyota continually improves its processes utilizing its employees to add value at all aspects of the production process.

The closing portion was an explanation of how Toyota continued to learn from mistakes with its launch of Lexus in North America and how even though the cars were recalled Toyota went far beyond anyone's expectations and sent technicians to owners and through this and many other measures earned the respect of the North American market with its dedication to one thing and one thing only, the customer.

The presentation was concluded with the future of hybrid technology and how Toyota is moving ahead with the Prius model and its latest release the hybrid only model which will be on sale in Japan on December 7. With only an hour and ten minutes, Mr. Haigh delivered an entertaining and powerful presentation, which left the audience eager for more.

We hope to have Mr. Haigh back for a follow up event early in the new year to finish his story as there is so much more to know about this extraordinary company.

With a company the size of Toyota, I figured that there must be other Canadian employees, but had yet to run into anyone until the Canada Means Business seminar. I started working for Toyota in 2007 after five years working for a tool and die maker in Takahama City, Aichi Prefecture. Through my years in Japan I have learned that "senpai", or superiors, are regarded as a great source of wisdom and advice, so I was eager to meet Ron Haigh and hear about his experience at Toyota over the past 20 years. Ron's speech about how Toyota has learned from its mistakes, yet remained steadfast to its principles, motivated me in my work as well. Many of the concepts were familiar to me and I already apply them everyday on the production floor, but Ron's personal anecdotes added humour to the story and made it very entertaining. Events like these give me a great networking opportunity and I look forward to participating in the future.

-Allison Teasdale,

Toyota Motor Corporation