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.
The tour has been a once in a lifetime experience and a real insight into Japanese Industry and culture. The warm welcome and organisation of the week including travel, hotels, places to eat and all visits were exceptional. The Toyota Group and Isuzu factory tours really demonstrated the Toyota Production System followed up with great…
read more
Dear Paul, Thank you for the nice experience you and your team were able to provide me! It has been a very professional tour and even more a very nice human connection with you, David and Eri. You have built a nice team that makes people’s lives change! Ciao, Maurizio
read more
I was very impressed with the professionalism and preparedness of the Shinka team. The support both before and during the tour was fantastic. It was the right mix of culture and personal development. There were lots of learnings I will take with me.
read more
The whole tour was very professionally undertaken and led. Paul and Ben have to be congratulated for putting together a very informative and very enjoyable experience. The itinerary was excellent and to see from the raw material all the way through the supply chain through to the finished product was superb. I loved the thought…
read more
The tour has given me the opportunity to understand in a practical way what I learned theoretically. I have checked that the theory is possible to put in practice. This has been the first time that I have felt the lean manufacturing philosophy first hand. Congratulations to the Shinka Team. The organisation has been perfect…
read more
I am now back in the office in rainy Seattle and wanted to say a huge thank you, once again for making the lean tour such an enjoyable learning experience. There are so many valuable learnings and enriching experiences that I am looking forward to sharing with my team and colleagues here in the coming days. I…
read more
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.
Tour Inquiries
Interested in joining us in Japan? For additional information prior to registration please fill in the form provided or contact us.