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To: Webster Groves who wrote (82673)	4/8/2007 10:46:16 AM
From: Paul Senior	Respond to of 206326

OT: Webster Groves. No sir, no evidence at all in that article that Toyota Texas is using lowest bid in its relationship with suppliers. I see where suppliers are moving or are currently near plants, but they seem to be the regular suppliers such as Denso for Toyota. As I say, once you're on the approved short list of suppliers to Toyota/Honda/maybe other Japanese., you've got the business and it is expected/encouraged/hoped that you as a supplier will follow along as as new assembly plants are built by these automakers. =============== This all being part of the history of quality in Japan after WW2. What the Japanese learned from quality guru W. Demings and others, was that it's tough enough to find good suppliers, and once you do, you should keep them. By working with suppliers and not pitting suppliers against each other, you will get better quality and more profits at less cost. Some ways this occurred was by the elimination of the receiving inspection department (suppliers deliver in-spec and in-statistical control product), the enabling of just-in-time manufacturing, and the profitable ideas that suppliers come up with as they work with product planners/designers/engineers of Toyota/others. The suppliers can afford to do this because they trust that Toyota won't take their ideas and shop them around to the suppliers' competitors. Imo, It's been the long-term view versus the short-term go-for-lowest-bid view that's been a big competitive advantage for these Japanese companies over USA companies. Again, that's been my experience from past years.