Toyota Is Changing How It Develops Its Cars
Toyota Motor Corp. is stretching out how long its new models are tested before they go into production and reducing the number of outside engineers it uses in a bid to overcome a spate of quality problems.
Randy Stephens, a senior Toyota engineer based in Ann Arbor, Mich., said company executives recognize that there were quality issues with the last generation of its vehicles, which were developed while the company was in a global-growth mode. Executives began talking about making changes nearly a year ago, he said, but the recent recall problems have spurred the company to act.
'As we looked at this past generation of vehicles it did seem to be all about the growth of the company, and there were lapses,' said Mr. Stephens, who works at the Toyota Technical Center near Ann Arbor and is in charge of the Toyota Avalon, a large sedan. 'We are definitely reforming the processes to be ultracareful.'
The changes in development follow Toyota's announcement that it will recall up to 270,000 Lexus models globally because of an engine problem that could cause stalling.
The Japanese auto maker has been ravaged by quality and safety concerns in the past six months. It has recalled more than 8.5 million vehicles globally for problems related to unintended acceleration and tens of thousands more for steering, braking and gas-tank flaws in vehicles across its lineup.
Executive Vice President Takeshi Uchiyamada, Toyota's chief engineer globally, is spearheading the effort, which is similar to a move in 2006 after Toyota had a spike in quality problems. Product-development times may be extended by two to six months, said a senior Beijing-based Toyota sales and marketing executive.
Toyota is trying not to lengthen the overall development time for a vehicle, which is 21 or 48 months depending on when you start counting, Mr. Stephens said. The idea is that other parts of the process could be shortened to allow more testing.
In addition to extending product-development lead times, Mr. Uchiyamada and his engineering team have decided to cut the number of engine and other key-feature variants and options to simplify and narrow the scope of engineering work, allowing engineers to focus more on quality.
Toyota may also further reduce the use of virtual, computerized engineering and use more vehicle prototypes. Doing so extends development time and increases costs.
In the case of the Avalon, which is developed and engineered in the U.S., Mr. Stephens said he is adding four weeks of testing to his development schedule. The testing will include using consumers and independent engineers to put 'fresh eyeballs' on the models before they enter production. He said Toyota will use prototypes when necessary.
'I think taking a step back and making sure that they have all of their processes in mind is probably a prudent move,' said Michael Robinet, an automotive analyst with IHS Automotive.
The company is also working to return development work that had been sourced to outside engineers back to Toyota employees. Some outside engineers work side by side with Toyota's engineers inside Toyota research and development centers. But using contractors has led to a breakdown in communication and potential misunderstandings, Mr. Stephens said.
A senior Toyota engineer said the company uses outside engineers to do about 30% of its development work globally and seeks to reduce the ratio to 10%. Toyota spokeswoman Cynthia Mahalak, of the Toyota Technical Center, said she couldn't confirm the ratios.
'We're definitely trying to do that,' Mr. Stephens said. 'We are trying to do as much in-house as we can. It makes more sense for us. It is easier to control and understand the process.'
Toyota had long held the U.S. crown for top quality and reliability among car makers. But last month, researcher J.D. Power & Associates said the Toyota brand fell to 21st from 7th overall in its annual Initial Quality Survey of new vehicles.
Meanwhile, Toyota's U.S. market share declined to 14.3% in June from 15.3% a year earlier, according to Autodata Corp. Even more telling, Toyota's market share through the first six months of 2010 is 15.1%, down from 17% at the end of 2009.
In a study released last week, Edmunds.com found that used-car prices have risen by an unprecedented amount in the past year for nearly all brands except Toyota.
'Our daily job is as intense and thorough as it has ever been,' Mr. Stephens said. 'These issues that have come up were really a surprise for us-- but a wake-up call because things can slip by.'
Mike Ramsey / Norihiko Shirouzu
Randy Stephens, a senior Toyota engineer based in Ann Arbor, Mich., said company executives recognize that there were quality issues with the last generation of its vehicles, which were developed while the company was in a global-growth mode. Executives began talking about making changes nearly a year ago, he said, but the recent recall problems have spurred the company to act.
'As we looked at this past generation of vehicles it did seem to be all about the growth of the company, and there were lapses,' said Mr. Stephens, who works at the Toyota Technical Center near Ann Arbor and is in charge of the Toyota Avalon, a large sedan. 'We are definitely reforming the processes to be ultracareful.'
The changes in development follow Toyota's announcement that it will recall up to 270,000 Lexus models globally because of an engine problem that could cause stalling.
The Japanese auto maker has been ravaged by quality and safety concerns in the past six months. It has recalled more than 8.5 million vehicles globally for problems related to unintended acceleration and tens of thousands more for steering, braking and gas-tank flaws in vehicles across its lineup.
Executive Vice President Takeshi Uchiyamada, Toyota's chief engineer globally, is spearheading the effort, which is similar to a move in 2006 after Toyota had a spike in quality problems. Product-development times may be extended by two to six months, said a senior Beijing-based Toyota sales and marketing executive.
Toyota is trying not to lengthen the overall development time for a vehicle, which is 21 or 48 months depending on when you start counting, Mr. Stephens said. The idea is that other parts of the process could be shortened to allow more testing.
In addition to extending product-development lead times, Mr. Uchiyamada and his engineering team have decided to cut the number of engine and other key-feature variants and options to simplify and narrow the scope of engineering work, allowing engineers to focus more on quality.
Toyota may also further reduce the use of virtual, computerized engineering and use more vehicle prototypes. Doing so extends development time and increases costs.
In the case of the Avalon, which is developed and engineered in the U.S., Mr. Stephens said he is adding four weeks of testing to his development schedule. The testing will include using consumers and independent engineers to put 'fresh eyeballs' on the models before they enter production. He said Toyota will use prototypes when necessary.
'I think taking a step back and making sure that they have all of their processes in mind is probably a prudent move,' said Michael Robinet, an automotive analyst with IHS Automotive.
The company is also working to return development work that had been sourced to outside engineers back to Toyota employees. Some outside engineers work side by side with Toyota's engineers inside Toyota research and development centers. But using contractors has led to a breakdown in communication and potential misunderstandings, Mr. Stephens said.
A senior Toyota engineer said the company uses outside engineers to do about 30% of its development work globally and seeks to reduce the ratio to 10%. Toyota spokeswoman Cynthia Mahalak, of the Toyota Technical Center, said she couldn't confirm the ratios.
'We're definitely trying to do that,' Mr. Stephens said. 'We are trying to do as much in-house as we can. It makes more sense for us. It is easier to control and understand the process.'
Toyota had long held the U.S. crown for top quality and reliability among car makers. But last month, researcher J.D. Power & Associates said the Toyota brand fell to 21st from 7th overall in its annual Initial Quality Survey of new vehicles.
Meanwhile, Toyota's U.S. market share declined to 14.3% in June from 15.3% a year earlier, according to Autodata Corp. Even more telling, Toyota's market share through the first six months of 2010 is 15.1%, down from 17% at the end of 2009.
In a study released last week, Edmunds.com found that used-car prices have risen by an unprecedented amount in the past year for nearly all brands except Toyota.
'Our daily job is as intense and thorough as it has ever been,' Mr. Stephens said. 'These issues that have come up were really a surprise for us-- but a wake-up call because things can slip by.'
Mike Ramsey / Norihiko Shirouzu
質量問題迫使豐田改變汽車開發流程
豐
田汽車公司(Toyota Motor Corp.)開始延長新款汽車投入生產之前的測試時間﹐並減少聘用的外部工程師的數量﹐以便消除一系列的質量問題。
European Pressphoto Agency
豐田全球總工程師內山田武(Takeshi Uchiyamada)統帥開發流程的調整。
史蒂芬斯在安娜堡附近的豐田技術中心工作﹐負責豐田大型轎車亞洲龍(Avalon)業務。他說﹐當我們審視最新一代汽車時﹐它確實看起來完全是為了公司的增長服務的﹐存在失誤﹔我們肯定要改進流程﹐變得格外謹慎。
在調整開發流程之前﹐豐田宣佈將在全球召回至多27萬輛雷克薩斯(Lexus)﹐因為引擎問題可能會引發汽車突然熄火。
過去六個月來﹐這家日本汽車生產商一直受到質量和安全問題的困擾。該公司已經因突然加速問題在全球召回了850多萬輛汽車﹐還因轉向、剎車和油箱問題召回了數萬輛各種款式的汽車。
豐田執行副總裁、全球總工程師內山田武(Takeshi Uchiyamada)統帥開發流程的調整﹐這項行動與2006年豐田汽車質量問題劇增之後的舉措類似。豐田駐北京的一位高級銷售和市場高管說﹐產品開發時間可能會延長兩到六個月。
史蒂芬斯說﹐豐田正努力避免延長一款汽車的總體開發時間﹐根據開始時間計算方式的不同﹐一款汽車的開發時間為21或48個月不等。他們的想法是可以縮短其他環節﹐以便有更多的時間進行測試。
除延長產品開發時間外﹐內山田武及其工程師團隊還決定減少引擎和其他主要功能的變量和選擇﹐以便簡化並縮小工程工作的範圍﹐使工程師更多地專注於質量。
豐田還可能會進一步減少虛擬、計算機輔助工程設計的使用﹐更多地使用樣車。這樣做會延長開發時間、增加成本。
斯蒂芬斯說﹐對於在美國開發和設計的“亞洲龍”﹐他將在開發時間表上加進四週的測試。測試中﹐將讓消費者和獨立工程師從他們的角度來評鑒車型﹐然後才會投產。他說﹐豐田將在必要情況下使用工程樣車。
咨詢公司IHS Automotive分析師羅比內特(Michael Robinet)說﹐退後一步並留心各個步驟﹐我想這或許是一種謹慎的做法。
豐田也在著手收回包給外部工程師的開發工作﹐讓自己的員工來做。一些外部工程師在豐田的各個研發中心同豐田的工程師一起工作。但斯蒂芬斯說﹐使用外包商造成了溝通不暢和潛在的誤解。
豐田的一位高級工程師說﹐外部工程師做了全球約30%的開發工作﹐公司希望把這個比例降到10%。在豐田技術中心(Toyota Technical Center)供職的豐田發言人馬哈拉克(Cynthia Mahalak)說﹐她不能證實這兩個數字。
斯蒂芬斯說﹐我們肯定是在這樣做﹐我們儘量把盡可能多的事情在內部進行﹐這樣對我們更加合理﹐能夠更方便地實施控制、理解流程。
豐田的質量和可靠性曾經在美國長期雄居各家汽車廠商之冠。但上個月研究公司J.D. Power & Associates說﹐在它針對新款汽車的年度“初始質量調查”(Initial Quality Survey)中﹐豐田品牌的整體質量從第七位下降到了第21位。
與此同時﹐研究公司Autodata Corp.的數據顯示﹐豐田6月份在美國的市場佔有率也從一年前的15.3%下降到了14.3%。更有說服力的是﹐豐田在2010年上半年的市場佔有率是15.1%﹐低於2009年年底的17%。
汽車調研網站Edmunds.com上週公佈的調查發現﹐幾乎所有品牌二手車的價格在過去一年都已經上漲﹐漲幅前所未有﹐但這當中沒有豐田。
斯蒂芬斯說﹐我們的日常工作是有史以來最緊張而全面的﹐這些已經出現的問題實在是出乎我們意料﹐但它們也警醒了我們﹐因為有些問題可能不引人注意。
Mike Ramsey / Norihiko Shirouzu
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