Word: toyoda
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...When he takes his turn on the hot seat on Wednesday, Akio Toyoda, the company's president and CEO - and grandson of its founder - will attempt to mollify his detractors with a heavy dose of contrition. "Toyota has, for the past few years, been expanding its business rapidly," Toyoda said in a prepared statement that he is expected to read at Wednesday's hearing. "Quite frankly, I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick." He also said the company would give greater weight to customer complaints, mandate that managers drive the company's cars...
...Toyoda won't be the only one in the crosshairs on Wednesday. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will speak on behalf of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the regulatory body whose apparent lax oversight - since 2003 it opened and closed eight investigations of Toyota vehicles due to customer complaints - was pilloried on Tuesday. Accounts of NHTSA's failure to piece together a pattern of customer complaints have made the group one of the saga's twin villains. "Shame on you Toyota, for being so greedy, and shame on you, NHTSA, for not doing your job," said Rhonda Smith...
...Sakichi Toyoda developed another concept, jidoka, or "automation with a human touch." Think of it as built-in stress detection. At Toyota, that means work stops whenever and wherever a problem occurs. (Any employee can pull a cord to shut down the line if there is a problem.) That way, says Steven Spear of MIT, author of Chasing the Rabbit: How Market Leaders Outdistance the Competition and an expert in the dynamics of high-performance companies, "When I see something that's not perfect, I call it out, figure out what it is that I don't know and convert...
...company has also been trying to repair its relationship with consumers. "We have not lived up to the high standards you have come to expect from us. I am deeply disappointed by that and apologize. As the president of Toyota, I take personal responsibility," Akio Toyoda wrote in the Washington Post...
...original version of this article misidentified Akio Toyoda as the grandson of company founder Sakichi Toyoda. He is the grandson of Kiichiro Toyoda...