Toyota Design

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Since the 1950s, Toyota have introduced and executed efficient management processes. These include ‘kanban‘ which means just-in-time inventory management and ‘shusa‘; heavyweight product managers, as well as ‘kaizen‘ which refers to continuous improvement within all levels of production up to and including assembly-line problem solving. These innovation practices continued to evolve throughout the 1960s, as Toyota integrated suppliers into its product development and established ‘Toyota Quality Control‘ over every aspect of its motoring operations. These measures repaid Toyota extremely lucrative financial gains, enabling them to develop exponentially and establish themselves as significant competitors within the US market by the 1970s.

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Toyota’s efficiency design and customer respect principles perpetuate through every single aspect of the company. They even went so far as changing the name of the company from ‘Toyoda’ to ‘Toyota’ because it was more efficient; Toyota can be written by using only eight strokes of a brush when spelled in Japanese. These principles were well established by the 1980s, by which time the global motoring industry had become aware of the impressive motoring presence of Toyota. Furthermore their logo also encapsulates these design motivations. The logo features three ovals which combine to form the letter ‘T’. These overlapping ovals signify the mutually beneficial relationship between company and customer, as well as symbolising Toyota’s unlimited potential in the future. Their determination to continuously evolve enables Toyota to continue manufacturing the world’s best cars at the lowest possible costs, as well as developing new models and products faster than any other brand.

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These pioneering designs are evident in their electric car, the Prius. Toyota’s design principles focus on long term successes rather than current trends or fads. For example, the Prius was invented in 2000 and was still a landmark success in 2007. Toyota were able to predict a growing need for energy efficient vehicles, and thus introduce a pioneering vehicle which had long term promise for the company. Subsequently, Toyota’s designs have inspired other manufacturers to follow suit. For instance, Mazda’s SkyActiv technologies, as evident in the Mazda CX-5, feature measures which aim to reduce vehicular energy emissions. This demonstrates how manufacturers have emulated Toyota’s efficiency measures in order to improve the production and customer reception of their vehicles.

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