*It’s the thinking that is important
I originally read
At Toyota, The Automation Is Human-Powered in 2017. An AME conversation this morning reminded me of it:
“While the rest of the auto industry increasingly uses robots in manufacturing, Toyota has taken a contrarian stance by accentuating human craftsmanship.”
it also contains some info stating historically there is a direct correlation between productivity growth, which robots should naturally contribute to, and job creation using ATM's as an example (see chart).
Two more from 2014 I found, and there few more in addition to this, but the same thinking applies.
Results from one of these articles:
“Toyota has eliminated about 10% of material-related waste from building crankshafts at Honsha. Kawai said the aim is to apply those savings to the next-generation Prius hybrid.”
“We cannot simply depend on the machines that only repeat the same task over and over again,” Kawai said. “To be the master of the machine, you have to have the knowledge and the skills to teach the machine.”
“Fully automated machines don’t evolve on their own; Mechanization itself doesn’t harm, but sticking to a specific mechanization may lead to omission of kaizen and improvement.”
https://financialpost.com/transportation/toyota-robots-humans
This one from PEOPLE POWER in Bloomberg, my notes, link below:
Toyota is becoming more efficient by replacing robots with humans
“Car makers have embraced automation and replaced humans with robots for years. But Toyota is deliberately taking a step backward and replacing automated machines in some factories in Japan and creating heavily manual production lines staffed with humans”
“It’s an unconventional choice for a Japanese company. Japan has by far the most industrial robots of any country, with an estimated 309,400 (pdf p. 17.) Only South Korea has a higher ratio of robots to humans.”
Toyota’s latest strategy has two main aspects:
“First, it wants to make sure that workers truly understand the work they’re doing instead of feeding parts into machines and being helpless when one breaks down.”
“Second, it wants to figure out ways to make processes higher quality and more efficient in the long run.”
“The company worries that automation means it has too many average workers and not enough craftsmen and masters.”
“So far, people taking back work done by robots at over 100 workspaces reduced waste in crankshaft production by 10%, and helped shorten the production line. Others improved axle production and cut costs for chassis parts.”
“We cannot simply depend on the machines that only repeat the same task over and over again. To be the master of the machine, you have to have the knowledge and the skills to teach the machine.”
“The manual lines are a refocus on “Kaizen,” or continuous improvement, and “Monozukuri,” which is essentially the art of making things well. It’s a re-commitment to management ideas behind the decades old Toyota Production System.”
“Machines are great at doing things quickly and at low cost. But people—especially ones with the experience of performing tasks themselves—bring craftsmanship, insight into process design, and consistency of quality. Toyota has found that the race to reduce the human element can end up making processes less efficient.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-04-06/humans-replacing-robots-herald-toyota-s-vision-of-future