Plastics Team Leaders Earn Trip to Japan


John Turner	James Barber

GEORGETOWN, KENTUCKY, (March 5, 2008) —Two Plastics team leaders have returned from what they refer to as “a trip of a lifetime”. James Barber, Plastics Pilot and John Turner, Rocker Paint, recently returned from a conference in Toyota City, Japan where they gave a presentation titled “Improve Paint Application Process to Reduce Paint Overspray Waste.” Their trip to Japan began in 2007 as submission for TMMK’s Environmental Achievement Award contest, in which team members are encouraged to develop and submit environmentally related “kaizens”-or improvements to processes throughout the plant.

At TMMK, an open communication culture allows team members to share their opinions with management and often contribute ideas of improvement to the processes they are responsible for. TMMK team members are asked to share their ideas and submit them as part of the company’s “kaizen” efforts. Kaizen suggestions from team members often result in cost savings to the company or enhanced ergonomic or safety measures for fellow team members.

Barber and Turner’s “kaizen” addressed extra paint or “overspray” being applied in the prime and clear coat zones in the Plastics Department. Some simple measures implemented by Barber and Turner resulted in the use of less paint which saved the company a substantial amount of money each year, improved production quality by increasing paint efficiency and helped the environment by reducing the amount of paint used. Their submission won the TMMK Environmental Achievement Award competition and then qualified to be presented on a national level which resulted in winning the Toyota Global Environmental Award.

Barber considered his trip to Japan to be an incredible honor. “I was so happy to represent my company,” said Barber. “I learned so much about the Japanese culture from their cuisine, to their day to day customs. I learned so at this conference, met incredible people and saw that you don’t have to have the same backgrounds to learn from each other.”

Turner calls the trip a highlight of his career. “This was by far the best thing I’ve done in my career at TMMK,” he noted. “Because of the networking opportunities and the exchange of ideas, I was able to learn more there in a week than I could have possibility done in two year’s time anywhere else.”

Barber and Turner shared their presentation with team members from Toyota’s manufacturing plants all over the world. “Despite the cultural and language barriers most people understood what situation we were rectifying,” added Barber. “In fact, the Texas plant expressed an interest in learning more about how they can adapt some of what we’ve done here in Kentucky.”

The Plastics Department, which Barber and Turner work in, produces nearly 250 plastics components for installation during final assembly. Those parts include bumpers, rocker panels and skins for instrument panels. TMMK is located on 1,300 acres in Scott County and is Toyota’s largest manufacturing plant in North America. TMMK employs nearly 7,000 team members.

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Contact:
Rick Hesterberg
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc.
502-868-2135