Toyota Brings U.S. Suppliers into Planning Process Earlier

Toyota Motor Corp. is inviting its key suppliers in the U.S. to collaborate directly during advanced product development, as much as two years earlier than they were allowed to participate before.

The goal is to cut costs by developing better components that can be made faster and more simply. The company says about 80 U.S. suppliers are participating in the program.

Toyota has spent $154 million to expand its technical center in Ann Arbor, Mich. to accommodate the process. Automotive News reports the facility now has four times the floorspace for on-site supplier representatives, 3-D rapid prototyping capabilities and in-house capacity to build as many as six prototype vehicles per day.

The carmaker previously didn’t bring suppliers into its product development process until the prototype phase, which comes 1-2 years after initial advanced development begins. Prototyping is followed by tooling and production.

Toyota began developing the collaborative system in 2011 and introduced it in Japan two years ago with the debut of the Toyota New Global Architecture. At the time, the company said the overall target was to slash capital investment for new plants by 40% and reduce product development costs by 20%.

As an example of the benefits of earlier supplier involvement, Toyota points to a new shift lever system for its 2018 model Camry sedan. The company says the new design consists of 30% fewer components, cost 25% less to tool, requires 60% less factory floorspace, can be made by one worker rather than four and takes 40% as long to assemble.