How does the cleanliness process at the Lexus plant in Cambridge support the achievement of high product quality?

Answer 1

In order to foster the kaizen philosophy, engineers and managers created an environment like a clean room, brightly lit like a pharmaceutical laboratory, with a place for everything and everything in its place. Traditional automobile factories are dark and noisy places, filled with flying sparks and the pounding of metal stamping machines. The Cambridge plant, by contrast, is painted in light colors and boasts a spotless floor—the result of constant sweeping up with small brooms and dustpans. These come from "5s" stations, a key element of lean production. Cleanliness plays such a large role because at a typical automobile plant most defects are caused by the process of manufacturing itself, by bumps and scrapes from workers. That is why there are no rings or watches on the line at Cambridge, no jeans with rivets to scratch bodies, and why fragments of metal are swept up before they can infiltrate the paint system. The Lexus philosophy is based on the fundamental insight that quality must be built into each part of the production process, not applied as an afterthought through inspections or fixes.