TOKYO Reuters- Toyota Motor Corp on Tuesday said it was happy to use scratched or blemished parts from suppliers as the world's biggest car producer tries to trim costs due to a production-curbing chip shortage and rising material costs.
Toyota's acceptance of good enough by using parts it would have thrown away in the past marks a significant change for a company renowned for stringent quality control and Japanese manufacturing practices that often prioritize perfection over speed to market.
We are careful about the parts you can see on the outside of our vehicles. Takefumi Shiga, Toyota's chief project leader for vehicle development, said there are plenty of places that people don't notice unless they really take a good look.
Toyota raised its operating profit outlook last month at www.reuters. The com business autos-transportation toyota-second quarter-quarterly profit-climbs -- 2021 -- 11 -- 04 12% for the year ending March 31, helped by favorable currency rates. It warned that a shortage of semiconductors was hurting the underlying profitability, which is why it was reducing production and increasing material costs.
Shiga and other Toyota engineers are expanding a programme in 2019 to meet component suppliers, even third tier ones, to make sure that scratches or blemishes are acceptable as long as they do not affect vehicle safety and performance, and are unlikely to be noticed by car buyers.
It takes courage on their part, Shiga said.
He added that a visit to a company that makes plastic seat belt parts reduced the number of those components rejected by three-quarters.