Field Study on International Transferability of the Toyota Production System Abroad

本研究项目旨在通过对丰田位于国外的生产系统进行实地调研，探讨丰田生产系统在国外的国际可转移性。丰田汽车承诺了20年的外国投资和生产。研究问题如下：确定自那时以来生产系统转移的任何演变，并确定转移的容易因素和困难因素。这次我决定把重点放在欧洲的工厂上，进行实地调研。2007年，我参观了丰田汽车在英国、捷克和土耳其的工厂，以及位于布鲁塞尔的地区总部。此外，明年还将参观一家法国工厂和布鲁塞尔的地区总部。我还参观了日产汽车公司(Nissan Motor Co.)的西班牙工厂和三菱汽车(Mitsubishi Motors)的荷兰工厂。通过实地考察，对丰田生产系统可转移性的初步结论如下。丰田汽车的欧洲工厂已经成功地实施了丰田生产系统。它通常引入了所谓的两大支柱体系(JIT和Jidoka)。该系统的技术方面更容易转让。另一方面，生产工人的技能形成不容易转移。它的转移需要时间和经验。然而，工资制度中绩效考核的实施在四个工厂普遍实施。丰田在欧洲的工厂已经向生产工人引入了绩效评估，尽管丰田未能在北美实施。我可以指出每个工厂在工作组织和教育培训方面的常见做法。我注意到，欧洲工厂的技能形成没有达到日本工厂的水平，还处于初级阶段或中期阶段。我目前不需要改变这一结论，尽管需要准确的调查。

This study project aims to investigate international transferability of the Toyota Production System abroad, based on the field research on located in foreign countries. Toyota Motor committed foreign investments and production for 20 years. The research questions are as follows: To identify any evolution of the transfer of the production system since then and to identify easy elements and difficult elements to transfer. I decided to make field research by focusing on the factories in Europe this time. I visited Toyota Motor's plants in Britain, Czech Republic, and Turkey, as well as the Regional Headquarters in Brussels in 2007. And, a French factory and the Regional Headquarters in Brussels were visited next year. I also visited a Spanish factory of Nissan Motor Co. and a Dutch factory of Mitsubishi Motors (NedCar)... A tentative conclusion concerning transferability of the Toyota Production System through the field study is as follows. Toyota Motor's European plants have implemented the Toyota Production System successfully. It has introduced so-called two pillars of the System (JIT and JIDOKA) commonly. The technical aspects of the system are easier to transfer. On the other side, production worker's skill formation is not easy to transfer. Time and the experience are necessary for its transfer. However, the execution of the performance evaluation in wage system was implemented commonly at four factories. Toyota's factories in Europe have introduced the performance evaluation to the production worker, although Toyota was not able to implement it in North America. I can point out common practices at each factory about the work organization and the education and training. I noticed that the skill formation at the European plants did not reach at the same level as the factory in Japan and it is at an initial or middle stage. I do not need to change this conclusion at present, though the accurate survey is required.