Toyota Motor : President Toyoda's New Year's Address to Team Members in Japan

Akio

When the right answer is unknown, I believe that the person at the top must make a decision and take action. But that doesn't mean moving without aim. Three pillars must be observed.

First, there is Toyota's philosophy. What is the purpose of Toyota's existence? It is not to sell as many cars as possible. It is also not to earn profit. Toyota exists for the happiness of all.

Thinking of someone other than oneself, working for the sake of that person, and producing happiness together. We compiled such ideas, which we must pass on to the next generation, into the Toyota Philosophy.

Next, there are the skills for realizing this philosophy. They are collectively known as the Toyota Production System. And, finally, there is the behavior for acquiring the first two pillars. This behavior is summed up in the Toyota Way.

I would like everyone who works at Toyota to always keep these three pillars in mind while doing their work. This is because these should all be acquired at the genba through work.

You and I have now spent 12 years together. First came our company's fall into the red after the global financial crisis, followed in succession by our recall crisis, the Great East Japan Earthquake, and the COVID-19 crisis. We have faced a true series of crises.

Every time that we encountered difficulties, I have tried to demonstrate Toyota's philosophy, skills, and behavior to everyone through my actions at the genba. However, getting my message across was difficult and a big problem for me.

For the past several years, I have been taking on the challenge of conveying Toyota's philosophy, skills, and behavior through my daily work.

The easiest to understand example is the development of our GR Yaris and hydrogen Corolla.

In the case of the GR Yaris, using genchi genbutsu, together we built a car, broke it, fixed it, and built it again. By repeating this process, the car became stronger and stronger.

We should think about why we can't apply this kind of car-making to cars other than the GR Yaris.

As various projects get underway in 2022, I hope by all means that activities will be conducted in which all functions, from development, production, and sales to after-sales service, work in unison.