Antoine
Administrator
Obsession builds perfection at Lexus
That "Relentless Pursuit of Perfection" thing isn't just a slogan at Lexus apparently. According to this Automotive News piece, Lexus really means it. Nowhere is it more evident than at the plant where Toyota builds its flagship Lexus LS600h L. Seeing themselves in an arms race of perfection, Lexus has taken perfection to an obsession. The workers are trained and retrained and re-retrained to focus on perfection. And we're not talking about the way a Formula 1 team might rehearse pitstops. We are talking about stuff like building finger strength with special plastic webbing trainers, arranging lip-gloss containers "to develop an eye for tints and color," developing a feel for five instead of six bolts in the hand, learning the sound of a properly torqued bolt. Amazing.
Workers have to go through extensive training, including lectures and computer simulations, in addition to the physical dexterity training. And that training gets tougher and tougher to identify different skill levels. Only 300 current workers at the plant have the highest Level 1 certification. But that doesn't guarantee anything. Every four months the workers have to go through the skills tests all over again. And no matter how good the worker's skills are, there's still that old saying about cleanliness being next to godliness to contend with. Follow the jump to hear more about the whole perfection equation at Lexus.
-AutoBlog
That "Relentless Pursuit of Perfection" thing isn't just a slogan at Lexus apparently. According to this Automotive News piece, Lexus really means it. Nowhere is it more evident than at the plant where Toyota builds its flagship Lexus LS600h L. Seeing themselves in an arms race of perfection, Lexus has taken perfection to an obsession. The workers are trained and retrained and re-retrained to focus on perfection. And we're not talking about the way a Formula 1 team might rehearse pitstops. We are talking about stuff like building finger strength with special plastic webbing trainers, arranging lip-gloss containers "to develop an eye for tints and color," developing a feel for five instead of six bolts in the hand, learning the sound of a properly torqued bolt. Amazing.
Workers have to go through extensive training, including lectures and computer simulations, in addition to the physical dexterity training. And that training gets tougher and tougher to identify different skill levels. Only 300 current workers at the plant have the highest Level 1 certification. But that doesn't guarantee anything. Every four months the workers have to go through the skills tests all over again. And no matter how good the worker's skills are, there's still that old saying about cleanliness being next to godliness to contend with. Follow the jump to hear more about the whole perfection equation at Lexus.
-AutoBlog
