Toyota’s oldest manufacturing plant in Japan is going against the tide favoring human workers over robots as the company tries to promote craftsmanship at its plants. In the past, craftsmen were used to be called “gods” (Kami-sama in Japanese) in Toyota’s plants, as they were the most capable workers.
Now Toyota is looking to bring them back, a step that may seem out of sync in an age of automation. Humans are replacing machines in the automaker’s plants across Japan so that workers can develop new skills and figure out ways to improve production lines and the car manufacturing process.
“We need to become more solid and get back to basics, to sharpen our manual skills and further develop them. When I was a novice, experienced masters used to be called gods, and they could make anything,” veteran Mitsuru Kawai who is responsible of the program, told Bloomberg.
“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,” Kawai added.
The return of the Kami-sama speaks volumes about Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda’s pledge to switch from a growth mentality to a focus on quality and efficiency. For example, he imposed a three-year freeze on new car plants in order to build up quality.
On the long run, Toyota may profit from the expansion freeze and spread of manual labor, but that could come at the expense of short-term sales growth, with Toyota being in danger to lose its No. 1 status to GM or Volkswagen.
By Dan Mihalascu
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