Ford's CEO says a Japanese management practice he picked up from rival Toyota helps him make better decisions
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Ford's CEO says a Japanese management practice he picked up from rival Toyota helps him make better decisions
"The hands-on management practice is called "gemba," which Farley said he "fell in love with at Toyota," where he started his automotive career. Gemba stems from the Japanese phrase "genchi genbutsu," meaning "go and see with your own eyes," Farley said. The concept refers roughly to the real place where real work is done on real things, as opposed to a plan or model of production."
"While the Detroit automaker is a market leader in producing cars and trucks with traditional internal combustion engines and powertrains, competitors like Tesla in the US and BYD in China have developed radically different approaches to manufacturing electric vehicles. Their rapid progress is pushing Farley to examine every aspect of production with the goal of wringing out as much cost as possible - and it's hard to see from the C-suite where cuts can be safely made."
Ford is reinventing its manufacturing processes to compete in the electric-vehicle era. Ford CEO Jim Farley applies the Japanese management practice gemba to inspect production in person before making major decisions. Gemba emphasizes going to the place where work happens and seeing problems directly to identify waste and inefficiencies. Intense competition from Tesla and BYD has pushed Ford to scrutinize every production aspect to lower costs while preserving safety and quality. Farley uses direct observation and frontline engagement to question legacy systems, parts release processes, and sources of waste, seeking visualized evidence to guide cost-cutting and modernization efforts.
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