“Companies that adopt the lean system and ‘visual management’ aim to generate more profit through greater efficiency, better prices and better quality.”, says Toyota East Africa Limited Managing Director Hylton Bannon.
This was during his presentation on Lean Management the Toyota was during this year’s Superbrands CEO Club meeting held in early March. The strategy has been Toyota Motor Corporation’s recipe for success in a century of its existence. He said that the history of the strategy is based on rich tradition going back to the time of the founder of the company Kiichiro Toyoda.
The younger Toyoda was inspired by his father, Sakichi who himself founded the Toyoda Automatic Looms Works Limited, a company that made automated looms for the Japan’s textile industry. Mr. Bannon said that the main five principles as inherited from the fathers of the company have over the years pushed the giant auto maker and dealer to continue conquering new frontiers year after year. “We always abide by his mantra of lean management and lean leadership,” he said during the meeting that attracted over 50 CEOs from the country.
The five principles have pushed the company’s fortunes even in times of adversity include the employees’ call to be faithful to their duties which translates to the overall good for the company. The need to be creative and studious, a feat that has seen it stay ahead of competition. The company has weathered many storms latest being the recall saga of their Toyota Prius model.
The management is based on the need to always be practical this has been vital in eliminating any frivolity that may crop up in chores. They have also built a homelike atmosphere that ensures that their working condition is warm and friendly. The final principle is the respect for people and gratefulness at all times.
“These are the principles that we inherited from our founder father and it is the one that has propped up the company all these years,” he said. In the presentation, Mr Bannon busted the myths that have surrounded the lean leadership mantra. “Many people think that lean leadership is a recipe of success but in Toyota we believe that success comes with consistent thinking and right frame of mind,” he said.
The other myth tackled was that this strategy was a project or a programme while at Toyota the inventor of the strategy, think that it is management philosophy. He also said that there has been misconception that there are set of tools to implement this strategy while the reality is that this comes naturally with focus on customer satisfaction. As a manufacturing company, analysts have termed the strategy works because of their niche while the Toyodas believed in teamwork and a culture of improvement that transcends all sectors final myth was that this was a short term project but to Toyota is an unending search for perfection.
Toyota East Africa Limited was this year’s CEO club meeting sponsor and Mr. Bannon delivered this inspirational speech in his keynote address to the CEOS at a Nairobi Hotel. The lean management presentation for East African business leaders comes at a time when major companies such as Barclays, KCB, Safaricom, Airtel are undergoing restructuring and adapting a leaner more efficient team.
