The Toyota Effect

Toyota has launched a short film series and campaign aimed at boosting efficiency in industries as varied as health care and metal manufacturing. The campaign, called The Toyota Effect, highlights companies that have received consultation on The Toyota Production System.

The short films highlight how Toyota shares its Toyota Production System with different partners to help them find better ways of doing business. By working with Toyota to make small changes to their day-to-day operations, the partners are able to have a greater impact, and in many cases, help more people in need.

The film series was produced by Academy Award-winning filmmakers Ross Kauffman, Kief Davidson, and Steve James. The films were launched in late September at the New York Film Festival Convergence.

“At Toyota, we believe that helping other companies with our production system will help retain jobs here in the U.S. That's going to be more people buying stuff and more people making money. That's going to help the economy."

116 Innovators

The video showcases Ace Metal Crafts, a Bensenville, Illinois, company that specializes in stainless steel fabrication and machining. The organization decreased shipment time from eight to six weeks, while increasing its customers and employee base through continuous improvement methods.

“This process is all about people. It's focused on human movement. At the end of the day, we want people to feel better about their job,” said Scott Dickson, Toyota Advisor.

Coming Home

The video highlights the St. Bernard Project, an organization that works with AmeriCorps to re-build New Orleans homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Through continuous improvement methods, the organization reduced construction time by almost half, building new homes in just 61 days.

Saving Sight

The short film sheds light on a busy eye clinic at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, which provides heathcare and performs surgical procedures to patients who are going blind, oftentimes while waiting for surgery. Through the hospital's partnership with Toyota, the health care team has created a color code system for patients, placed supplies closer to exam rooms, and eliminated a surgical backlog hundreds of patients long.

“I never would have thought that implementing The Toyota Product System would help save lives or keep people from going blind, but it has,” said Pradeep Prasad, Chief of Ophthalmology at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

The Lamar Buffalo Ranch

Experts explain how re-used Toyota Camry Hybrid battery packs are helping bring power to the Lamar Buffalo Ranch field campus in Yellowstone National Park, which uses solar panels to power its facilities.

“The beauty of this system is we are re-purposing Camry Hybrid batteries and harnessing the sun's energy to bring power to those re-purposed batteries that act as a stationary energy source,” said Kevin Butt of Toyota.