A green house, a green mind
Posted by Colin Hensley on June 29, 2010 in 360° approach, Clean Operations
We are very happy to announce our first guest blogger: Christopher Barrow, Environmental Affairs, Toyota France
A few days ago Toyota France participated in the opening ceremony of our first Sustainable Retailer in La Rochelle in the west of France. This is the result of more than 5 years work between Toyota Motor Europe, Toyota France, Toyota Financial Services, the dealer group Toys Motors and his architectural team.
I have had the chance to follow this pioneering project from the very beginning, acting on behalf of Toyota France as contact person for the BREEAM auditor in the UK, BREEAM being the certification method that has been adopted to evaluate the “greenness” of the build. As the construction design team can confirm, the tough BREEAM criteria require a high level of innovation and as a result an amount of documentation that would not usually be required for a conventional build - but in the end this is what makes our Sustainable Retailers so special, and we are not afraid of challenges!
The initial idea for a Pan-European programme of “greening” the dealership network came as a natural progression of our continuing efforts to improve our design, manufacturing and distribution processes so as to reduce our environmental impact. Mr. Chabot from Toys Motors shares this philosophy and was therefore happy to build a flagship dealership.
I still remember how it all started. The project began with the land selection in a commercial zone just outside Aytre, to the south of La Rochelle, on which was positioned an old council workshop. From the very outset an environmental ethic was adopted with the nomination of an Environmental Coordinator, whose team ensured that what was written down was carried out! Recycling and reuse was even applied to the deconstruction of the council building so as to minimise waste and avoid landfill.
As soon as work started on the build, each involved company signed an environmental chart so as to ensure that their engagements were respected, with regards to such things as waste sorting, materials selection, optimisation of deliveries even going as far as car sharing!
So it was a proud moment to see the result at the opening. The dealership has become a masterpiece of technology ranging from Building Management Systems, CO2 sensors, rain water harvesting, geothermal heating, photovoltaic panels and even a green roof. The design team has implemented a considerable number of measures so as to ensure that the building’s impact on the environment is limited as well as ensuring that the working environment is as comfortable as possible. Coordinating between the auditor BREEAM and the design team, I was amazed to see how the environmental construction standards pushed the design team to find new solutions when the existing solutions were not sufficient to achieve the criteria. This has led to an unconventional building design in the field of automotive dealerships, the adoption of increased use of recycled aggregates, innovative insulation and even recycled cladding materials.
The facility is now officially open and I hope that all the efforts result not only in the highest possible “excellent” rating by BREEAM, but also in a bright future for the dealer, all his staff and equally for all those involved in the project at every level .
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Comments(0)Your Toyota is My Toyota
Posted by Colin Hensley on June 14, 2010 in Quality
You may have recently seen some of our advertising that is part of our campaign called “Your Toyota is my Toyota.” It features some of the people who work at our company in manufacturing or in the retailer or the national sales companies. Each of them exclaims “My Toyota!” Our aim is to show the real commitment that each and every one of our team members has to ensure quality for our customers.
In the extended versions of the vignettes each of the members explains, in their own words, what they are doing to ensure quality is guaranteed during their part of the process of designing, engineering, producing or selling a Toyota car. I have to say I still get goose-bumps when I watch some of these videos, even though I have seen them many times. I can really feel the passion that my colleagues have for what they do, and I have a huge amount of respect for them and their absolute commitment to ensuring quality.
You might imagine it would be difficult to go into the plant and persuade people to go on camera and talk about their jobs, but it wasn’t. Once the producer had walked around and explained what they wanted to do, many of the members were keen to get involved. The reason why, I think, is actually similar to the use of the andon cord in the plant, which Bridie Tucker explains in her vignette. People recognized that there was a problem that needed to be solved, and raised their hand to do what had to be done to solve it. In this case it wasn’t a blemish or a checking for a leak it was reassuring our customers that we will continue to do everything we can to make the best cars possible.
Take a look at the rest of the vignettes and tell us what you think. Click here
Plugging our Plug-Ins
Posted by Colin Hensley on April 29, 2010 in 360° approach, Green Technologies
Yesterday, I came back from Strasbourg where I had been for the launch of a large-scale Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (PHV) demonstration in Strasbourg together with the French energy provider EDF, and the City and the Urban Community of Strasbourg. We’ve were lucky to have beautiful weather in a wonderfully picturesque city. There will soon be about 100 PHVs zooming around the region. They are not being driven by Toyota people, but by a group of partners who have decided they want to be involved in this trail-blazing activity, and are willing to commit their own resources to be involved (and a huge thanks to them all).
Another great thing about this project is that it will provide masses of data for all of the partners to be able to better understand how our customers will use the vehicles, and allow for the validation of the techno-economic feasibility of the PHV, before we engage in mass production.
Before then though, we have to look at the feedback from the journalists who were driving the cars this week. From talking with the media in Strasbourg, I was glad to find that we had been able to make our strategy for hybrid clearer. One of my colleagues from Toyota Frey in Switzerland also explained that very importantly, PHV could concretely demonstrate the next steps for hybrid. I believe that once we then link in the Fuel Cell hybrids which are now in Europe, our direction will be seen to be both logical and very tangible.
Over the next few months, we will be launching PHV in a total of 18 countries across Europe, so please keep your eyes open for one on a road near you!
Every day is “sun”day at the Toyota Parts Centre
Posted by Colin Hensley on April 13, 2010 in Uncategorized
I was recently lucky enough to be on vacation in the mountains. While I was riding up the mountain on the ski-lift with some friends I noticed that there seemed to be a lot fewer trees affected by acid rain as compared with my recollection of some years ago. If this is true, then I hope it has a lot to do with the wider use of electricity from renewable sources. We believe this is a very important step to take to have a more sustainable business.
It’s for precisely this reason that TME, in partnership with Blue Planet Solar NV have installed an 80,000m² solar panel array on the roof of our parts centre, TPCE, in Diest. This installation is one of the largest thin-film solar panel rooftop installations in Belgium and will produce between 15% & 20% of the annual electricity requirements of the facility, resulting in reduced CO2 emissions and huge savings on the energy bill.
On the 24th March we held an inauguration ceremony where the Flemish Minister for Energy, Ms Freya Van den Bossche symbolically pushed the button to start the collection of energy from the panels. Ms Van den Bossche also joined our partners and the other VIP guests in a trip to the roof to see the 12,800 panels. It was hugely impressive, covering the equivalent of 16 football pitches, the panels just seemed to go on and on as far as you could see. Even here in Belgium, which isn’t noted for it’s sunny climate, the panels should generate somewhere between 15% and 20% of the annual electricity needs of TPCE (the rest of the electricity also comes from renewable sources).
This also means a reduction in the CO2 emissions of about 1700 tonnes/year for TPCE. So now as well as being able to offer lower CO2 cars, we can also address emissions during the rest of the product lifecycle.
WELCOMING THE PRESIDENT TO TME
Posted by Colin Hensley on March 25, 2010 in Quality
We had a pretty extraordinary day on Tuesday. Some of you may have seen the coverage in the media already, our President, Akio Toyoda visited Belgium. He started his flying visit by dropping in at Toyota City, one of the local dealers. While Toyoda-san was there, he talked to the customers who were waiting for their cars to be serviced, or even have the modification made for the recalls. He also went down into the workshop to have a close look at how the small metal shim is being added to the accelerator pedal. I talked to some of the people working there, and they were all very proud to have been the subject of this visit.
Toyoda-san then came to our offices to address all of the members. He gave a resounding speech, where he talked about both the difficult times that we have been through recently and his expectations for the future operations in Europe. <you can read the speech here> There were also words from representatives of the dealers, the manufacturing plants and the employees. It was honestly quite moving to see the great response he received from all of my colleagues who had gathered together.
There was also a chance for a small group of our media to talk to Toyoda-san, and because of this, I needed to brief the President directly on the European media situation. I must say, Toyoda-san is both charming and attentive, listening carefully and making pertinent comments.
While it will still take a few more months until the recall campaign is completed here in Europe, this event really felt like another great step towards the future for our company. In fact, one of the things Toyoda-san said himself during the day was that he felt this was a “fresh start” for Toyota.
I can tell, from first hand experience, President Toyoda really does love cars, and wants to bring that passion for design, manufacturing and marketing of cars back into all parts of our company. I know my colleagues in TME and I are ready to take on the challenge.
