| -

TOYOTA CITY, Japan — Toyota officials this week arrived at several recommendations generated by a panel of independent experts to improve quality assurance and related communications activities.

The automaker asserted all of the discussion stems from the quality issues that came to light late in 2009 and earlier this year. It's well known how those issues regarding floor mat interference with accelerator pedals, accelerator pedals that were slow to return to their non-depressed position and a defect in the Prius braking system within the ABS software program created several rounds of recalls in 2010.

Company management stressed the panel created wide-reaching strategies for preventing quality lapses as well as for enhancing internal and external communications in regard to product quality.

Measures for Preventing Recurring Quality Issues

The manufacturer emphasized it significantly evaluated field-information gathering, recall decision-making, after-sales service, purchasing and product development.

Toyota highlighted four recommendations it believes are the most promising.

—Upgraded capabilities for gathering and analyzing customer-relationship information at overseas operations and for gleaning useful information from customer complaints submitted to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

—Expanded and upgraded networks of technical offices to respond more quickly in conducting on-site investigations of reports of serious quality issues via Toyota's Swift Market Analysis and Response Team.

—Unified design responsibility for crucial components, such as accelerator pedals, in single divisions (instead of spreading that responsibility across multiple divisions, as occurred formerly) and establishing an autonomous division to spearhead improvements in design quality, including measures for reflecting customer input in design standards.

—Customer-first training centers established at five sites worldwide to cultivate quality assurance professionals and to ensure the retention of pertinent skills and technology across generations

"Measures are under way in the pertinent divisions at Toyota, we found, to improve quality assurance from a customer perspective," automaker officials indicated.

"The measures described for us are convincing, and they promise to yield solid results if implemented as described," they added.

While the automaker believes those four proposals can be enacted quickly, officials shared seven more panel suggestions that could bring more long-term benefits.

—Analyzing each serious accident and each serious customer complaint thoroughly and translating the analytical findings into concrete measures for preventing the recurrence of the problems in question and for preventing the occurrence of similar problems.

—Collaboration between Toyota's quality-related divisions and its legal division: employ information from the legal division in combination with customer-relationship information and NHTSA's customer-complaints information in analyzing accidents.

—Developing and applying criteria for gauging the attainment of trainees at the customer-first training centers.

—Deploying even more field personnel than Toyota's present plans call for and providing training to equip the field personnel to function effectively from a customer perspective.

—Developing and applying criteria for evaluating suppliers in regard to management expertise and implicit risk, as well as technical capabilities.

—Supplementing Toyota's measures for obtaining input from third-party experts in so-called "design reviews based on failure mode" with measures for securing input from the company's after-sales service people, who deal directly with customers; adopting measures to upgrade the management of design revisions from the standpoint of preventing quality issues

—Stepping up training for dealers' maintenance and repair personnel to prevent problems; for example, floor mat interference with accelerator pedals.

Measures for Effective Internal, External Communication

When serious quality issues have occurred, Toyota offered what the panel shared to improve the automaker's crisis-management communication. Again, four topics rose to the top.

—Stepping up communication with the mass media and with other external audiences.

—Mobilizing task forces under the leadership of executive vice presidents.

—Establishing the Business Reform Communication Department to spearhead improvements in communication.

—Setting up the Special Committee for Global Quality and strengthening regional operations' capabilities and authority for responding promptly to quality concerns.

"However, ensuring lasting improvements in crisis-management communication will depend on accompanying the measures with workplace procedures and mechanisms for fulfilling their goals," Toyota management conceded.

"Especially pressing is the need for establishing guidelines to steer crisis-management activity by the president and other members of senior management and for monitoring the effectiveness of those guidelines on a continuing basis," the company continued.

"Also pressing is the need for bridging the culture gap between Japan and other nations in public relations activities and for strengthening Toyota's locally based capabilities for handling media relations in each principal region," the automaker added.

Special Committee for Global Quality

Stemming from a March meeting chaired by Toyota president Akio Toyoda, the company is prepared to continue its assessment study to determine more quality-assurance reviews and improvement measures. Another committee is being organized and prepared by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers.

This group is scheduled to meet in October. Those who are to gather with Toyota leadership are:

—Hiroshi Osada, professor, Graduate School of Innovation Management at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

—Noriaki Kano, professor emeritus at Tokyo University of Science.

—Yasuo Kusakabe, chairman, Automobile Journalist Association of Japan.

—Yoshiko Miura, general manager of public relations for Japan Consumer Association.