To promote sharing of best practices, Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM) has opened its doors to Bengaluru-based manufacturing industries. The Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC), which took the lead, hosted an industrial visit for top executives, who were taken around the Toyota Kirloskar Motors facility.

Raju B Ketkale, Senior Vice-President and Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said participants got an opportunity to see and experience the world-class production assembly-lines and learn about best practices that Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKML) and Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts (TKAP) are known for the world over.

The group of executives also got to see first-hand cutting-edge manufacturing facilities at their facility, which rolls out high-end quality products.

The senior executives also interacted with the senior leadership team on Lean Management Innovation that Toyota practices in its manufacturing processes. The team shared key principles of the Lean Manufacturing philosophy with the visiting participants. The philosophy focuses on embedding quality in the assembly lines itself.

The participants also got a peek into Toyota Group’s continuous improvement programmes, where it strives for input cost reduction, value from waste and nurturing suppliers as their longstanding partners in business sustenance.

The participants were run through the fundamentals of the Toyota Production System (TPS) through daily management, which is essential to run any manufacturing facility.

Jidoka

The Toyota Production System (TPS) is based on two concepts: The first, called "Jidoka" (which can be loosely translated as "automation with a human touch"), means that when a problem occurs, the equipment stops immediately, preventing defective products from being produced.

Just-in-Time

The second is the concept of "Just-in-Time" in which each process produces only what is needed by the next process in a continuous flow. Based on the basic philosophies of Jidoka and Just-in-Time, the TPS can efficiently and quickly produce vehicles of sound quality that fully satisfy customer requirements.

Ketkale said working with TPS allows companies to produce high-quality, cost-effective products that are delivered to customers on time. The production respects the environment, which includes recycling of products at the end of their lifetime. And it also creates a safe workplace, both for the employees and the customers.

The visiting executives also saw how meticulously each of the processes is planned at the manufacturing unit to roll out an end-to-end finished product.

The industrial visit is part of the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce’s member-connect programme, wherein best practices are shared with member companies so that they can replicate the top-end manufacturing culture at their own plants.

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