Toyota Kaizen Improvement Leads in Stamping Labor Productivity ...

Toyota kaizen process allows its to maintain leadership in productivity measures, according to recent Harbour Consulting report North American automaker performance. ...

... "Toyota again led in stamping labor productivity, although its 1.42 stamping hours per vehicle degraded 3.6% from 2004. Toyota regained the lead in press productivity with a record 792 average parts per hour. Harbour uses a stamping index that weighs each of several measures in a process that creates a composite score of stamping productivity. On that basis, Toyota's Cambridge stamping shop ranked first, followed by Toyota Georgetown, Honda East Liberty, Honda Marysville and Toyota Princeton. Of the 10 best stamping plants, Toyota had three; Honda, two; DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors, Nissan and NUMMI, one each. In total stamping labor productivity Nissan ranked third, behind CAMI, with 2.11 HPV. Chrysler Group was fifth (behind NUMMI), improving 6.7% to 2.64 HPV. As in assembly, Toyota is among the best in the industry, said Harbour. It is not a matter of spending more than competitors. It reflects regular kaizen improvement activities and the flexibility that comes with well coordinated engineering and manufacturing. Ford has also shown a renewed commitment to upgrade its stamping technology after several years of limited investment, and its performance is showing a steady climb despite aging equipment. " ...

Via Harbour Consulting: PRODUCTIVITY GAP AMONG NORTH AMERICAN AUTOMAKERS NARROWS IN HARBOUR REPORT 2006 (PDF) ...