Toyota Body Seiko – Factory Tour
Toyota Body Seiko is a subsidiary of Toyota Auto Body, an integrated automotive parts manufacturer that develops, designs and manufactures a variety of auto seat parts, frames and pressed components. The company is a first-tier supplier to the Toyota Group with five factories in Japan and two overseas.
Corporate Information
- Company: Toyota Body Seiko
- Parent Company: Toyota Auto Body
- Establishment: 1992
- Location: Headquartered in Aichi Prefecture
- Main Business: Automotive parts manufacturing
Toyota Body Seiko – Lean Characteristics
TPS, Just-In-Time, Kanban, Andon Board, Visual Management, Quality Assurance
Toyota Body Seiko Kakamigahara Factory is one of a regularly visited sites on our Lean Japan Tours. The factory manufactures automotive seat rails used for not only the Toyota HiAce, but for many other popular models such as the Rav4.
The shop floor tour will give a comprehensive operator-level look at factory operations and our tour participants will experience the Toyota Production System in action with excellent examples of Just-In-Time delivery, Kanban and Andon board systems at this Toyota Group first-tier supplier.
Other highlights of the factory shop floor visit include simple but effective visual management tools, automated guided vehicles (AGV) and specific examples of inexpensive improvement ideas that have had a considerable effect on productivity.
Quality assurance is a key challenge for this factory due to the structure of its workforce. Most workers are employed from labor hire firms on short-term contracts. However, you will see how this factory has managed this situation to achieve an impressively low defect rate.
The tour group will visit the product reception and delivery staging areas as well as welding and assembly operations, with the tour and discussion led by a former factory manager.
Santiago, Chile
I must say thank you to the whole Shinka team – very grateful to meet you. The senseis and the Shinka team always cared about integrating us, teaching us and making us feel comfortable. The planning for the tour was brilliant. All my expectations were met. I saw TPS totally implemented, and it was amazing…
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Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
I achieved my objective of learning about Japanese work culture and useful practices to increase work efficiency. The program had a good balance of classroom learning and plant visits. The Shinka Management team, Paul, Juan & Ichi were very helpful ensuring each and every one of us were well taken care of. Also not forgeting…
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Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
Excellent, from preparing the tour group on do’s and don’ts to guidance on what to watch out for every step of the way. Cannot recommend this enough if you are looking to learn how to resolve issues, and want to understand the lean approach from philosophy to theory to practice. Thank you very much, Paul,…
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Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Paul Smith and the team at Shinka Management, in particular Eri Dennis, did an incredible job planning and leading our tailored Japan Study Tour in March 2024. Our team of construction and training professionals learnt and more importantly experienced so much about lean management and Japanese construction, manufacturing and factory practices. Without the expertise and…
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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
This tour was recommended to me by our VP Operations who undertook the tour the previous year. Both Ben and Paul provided an excellent tour of the Japanese manufacturing industry and the program was both well run and highly focused towards the practical implementation of lean strategies. There were plenty of opportunities to ask questions…
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Ghent, Belgium
The Lean Japan Tour is an enriching experience and organized very well by Shinka Management. It was the most wonderful training I have attended so far and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to be inspired about lean management and world class manufacturing!
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The Shinka Management Lean Japan Tour is a professional development program run several times annually. The program includes a mix of lean and kaizen seminars, hands-on lean training and visits to several benchmark lean companies. For further information and program dates, see the lean tour overview page.
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