Word: toyotas
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...mill town of Lawrence, Mass. Davis figures he can overcome the higher labor costs in the U.S. and turn his plants into strategic assets--shipping directly to retailers from the factory and saving a bundle on inventory costs. His goal: to make New Balance more like Toyota, a model of lean manufacturing in his own backyard...
...make his operations more efficient, Davis is borrowing a page from Toyota. Last summer, managers re-engineered a factory in Norridgewock, Maine, following Toyota's famously flexible production system. Isolated departments for cutting, stitching and embroidery were replaced by cells of workers clustered in a line, saving 40% of floor space. Smaller batches of sneakers are now assembled rapidly, down the line, and if anyone identifies a faulty stitch, for instance, the problem is fixed before a large batch of defective shoes can pile up. Factory workers, who aren't unionized, are encouraged to point out mistakes, and they help...
...also a technological breakthrough at a fair price. The model TIME tested has a sticker price of $30,750 thanks to extras like a navigation system and leather seats, but the basic model starts at $26,380. Several other hybrid SUVs are on the way, including a Toyota Highlander in 2005 and a Saturn Vue in 2006, but so far only Ford has delivered...
...expected to account for nearly half of the country's oil demand. China is beginning to respond. Last month, Beijing approved its first fuel-efficiency standards for passenger vehicles, which will begin to take effect in 2005 and will be more stringent than those in the U.S. Last month Toyota announced plans to manufacture the Prius, its hybrid gasoline-electric car, in China, where it hopes the clean vehicle will find a significant market. Beijing's government, meanwhile, is working to develop electric cars before 2008, and GM is working with the Shanghai Automotive Group on a hybrid bus design...
Victims of oppression seldom have a chance to face their tormentors. But Ahmad Jamal gets the opportunity nearly every day. He can usually spot them by their cars - late-model Toyota Avalons, Peugeots, Mercedes and BMWs issued to Baathist leaders, with Iraqi license plates. These former officials from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, the mukhabarat (Iraqi secret police) and other parts of the Iraqi state apparatus cruise Amman's streets, roam its malls and enjoy its restaurants. "Two years ago, they brought us misery," Jamal says. "Now they're living it up in exile in Amman and we have...