So did success at Long Beach Stamping lead Toyota to make the incremental move to the Toyota/GM joint venture, NUMMI?
How was TPS taught to the vendors?
[Molinelli, Ken SEA]The tariff was for complete trucks only and it exempted incomplete truck chassis. Toyota got around the tariff by importing trucks without beds. They set up a subsidiary, Long Beach Stamping, in California to fabricate beds and finish the trucks. My first training in TPS came from a former Long Beach Stamping vendor who had seen, appreciated and adopted the tools Toyota was using.
[Jim Peck]Back in the early seventies, Toyota and Datsun were shipping compact pickups to the US. A tariff of around $1000 each was being tacked onto these and they still sold. I do not need a research project to determine the exact dollar figure of the tariff. We well might find someone who tells us that this tariff is what prompted Toyota to start manufacturing in the US. We may know a lot more about Lean than we would if the tariff had never been erected, an unintended consequence. Chile, last I knew, had few trade restrictions. Japan has many.
[Alan Mossman]Back in the sixties and seventies countries in Europe and N America took a protectionist stance toward for example Japanese auto manufacturers. Quotas were set for example. In recent debates about how to manage the credit crunch and unemployment some have advocated a return to protectionism. From a lean standpoint at a national government level do you think it Is a good thing to limit the free flow of trade, information and so on to stimulate growth locally or is the global and hence the national economy best served by that free flow of trade information etc so that customers are free to make an informed choice of what best suits their own needs and growth occurs wherever customer value is best provided.
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