The Toyota Way

With a history of successfully challenging the boundaries of existing technology, we pride ourselves on a philosophy that is globally referred to as best practice in innovation. The Toyota Way is a business model that transcends language, nationality, culture, geography and profession.

The Toyota Way is supported by two main pillars:

1. Continuous Improvement
2. Respect For People

Continuous Improvement

Continuous Improvement means that we never perceive current success as our final achievement. We are never satisfied with where we are and always improve our business by putting forth our best ideas and efforts: we are keen to create better alternatives, question our accomplishments and investigate future definitions of success.

There are three building blocks shaping our commitment to Continuous Improvement:

1. Challenge - we form a long term vision, meeting challenges with courage and creativity to realize our dreams;
2. Kaizen - we improve our business operations continuously, always driving for innovation and evolution
3. Genchi Genbutsu - we go to the source to find the facts to make correct decisions, build consensus and achieve goals.

Respect For People

Respect For People refers to our own staff as well as the communities and stakeholder groups that surround us and we are part of. We respect our people and believe the success of our business is created by individual efforts and good teamwork.

Respect For People is translated in:

1. Respect - we respect others, make every effort to understand each other, take responsibility and do our best to build mutual trust
2. Teamwork - we stimulate personal and professional growth, share the opportunities of development and maximize individual and team performance.

These elements combined define our corporate DNA, provide a way of operating that is recognised by each and every Toyota-member around the globe and enables us to sustain our success in the future.

"A word from Max"

I really wanted to write a few words about the philosophy behind TTC-AU. Our company prides itself on “The Toyota Way”, a set of guiding principles that seek to continuously improve our company and our people.

For those of you not familiar with the Toyota Way, the two key elements are::

1. Continuous Improvement;
2. Respect for People.

Under Continuous Improvement comes the creed to always adopt a long term philosophy and to consider and question everything. The right process will provide the right results – continuous improvement eliminates wastage and gets quality right the first time.

Another element to Continuous Improvement is ‘genchi genbutsu’: a term often used within Toyota walls, meaning ‘go the source’ and see for yourself.

When challenged by a problem, we encourage our staff to investigate the problem at the root of the issue before providing a solution, rather than using ‘hear-say’ as the basis for improvement.

Last but not least, Continuous Improvement drives organisational learning: by learning from our past challenges, we can avoid similar pitfalls and ensure greater success in future projects.

Respect for People splits into two key pillars – respect for stakeholders and teamwork. We believe in mutual trust and partnership, and add value to our organisation by developing our people. Our aim is to make every employee a knowledgeable, passionate, global leader.

I feel fortunate to have spent much of my career at Toyota, a company where developing high quality staff and designing high quality vehicles go hand in hand. A global company with a global perspective, epitomised by TTC-AU; a top facility firmly based in Australia, utilising Australian talent to design cars that might not be built here or even sold here, but will be enjoyed by people all over the world.