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Toyota cars into their own hands. NUMMI took their competitors in the USA over in
productivity by 40%.
This cooperation offered Toyota experience and courage to venture beyond the
Japanese borders themselves. After the experience obtained in the cooperation inNUMMI,
Toyota themselves went on expanding and spreading their production factories all around
the world in the USA, Canada, Europe and elsewhere.
The managers and managing employees who gained considerable experience in
NUMMI were later moved to other plants of the company Toyota. The company learnt
to work with American suppliers efficiently and vice versa, American suppliers learnt
from Toyota.
GM sent thousands of managers and employees to the Fermont factory NUMMI
to learn the Toyota Production System. After coming back, they were allocated in different
factories and positions of General Motors Company. Trained managers managed teams
of employees with the “traditional American culture”. Transformation of the American
philosophy to the Japanese one (TPS) was relatively difficult for those individuals. GM
was able to increase productivity and quality; however, they still lagged behind Toyota.
4.2.4 Simplified graphic model of cooperation within NUMMI
The following model (see Figure 4.1) represents a graphic sketch of the described
situation. It is necessary to state the following facts regarding the model:
• Education and increasing qualification works here in three dimensions.
The first one educating employees and managers of GM especially in terms
of the TPS. The other one is educating the students of the University of
Michigan (TPS, R&D…). The third one is educating the suppliers (TPS,
JIT, KANBAN, KAIZEN…).
• The research worked within all NUMMI. However, it was concentrated
mainly at the University of Michigan and the Toyota Technical Center.
• Employment and enhancing the qualification of the labour force were for
the sake of UAW.
• Marketing NUMMI – GM was in charge of marketing.
• Toyota, which implemented the TPS principles there, was in charge of
production.