After the 1973 oil crisis, very few companies managed to cope with the situation and also emerge stronger (apart from the oil companies of course), and one of those companies is Toyota.
Most wondered how it had managed to overcome such a deep crisis, especially taking into account that it is dedicated to the automotive industry, which was the most convulsed by the changes in the environment.
The company obtained great results thanks to two issues, the first taking into account the real present and future needs of consumers, and the second, implementing and managing a production system that has as its goal the systematic elimination of waste. For this elimination of seedlings (waste in Japanese) he resorted to the now famous “Just in Time” production system.
Time passed and the US companies producing large and fuel-intensive vehicles had to redesign both the products generated and copy the Japanese production systems in order not to lose their market share to the Japanese.
The existing paradigms prevented them from seeing reality, which led Western companies, and not just auto companies, to continue with their Taylorian and Fordist production systems. Only to the extent that they lost competitiveness in a series of markets, such as those for cameras, shipbuilding, televisions, musical equipment, watches, motorcycles, computers, machine tools, and of course automobiles among many others, did they become aware of the situation. It was a life or death situation for business continuity.
Many believed that swift measures such as downsizing, automation or reengineering could overcome the crisis. Many succeeded, but only for a time. Uncorrected the root causes of their current failures as value-generating companies, each new crisis led to further downsizing, increased automation, and new attempts to redesign systems.
Today, more than 30 years after that phenomenal crisis, Western companies are once again exposed to a new crisis generated by the increase in the price of oil. Failure to face an authentic and systematic elimination of waste, not generating products that take into account energy consumption and ecological imbalance, leads to a new situation of financial crisis.
Before they were big cars, today they are 4 x 4. Large energy consumptions in an absurd and unnecessary way will force consumers and companies, as well as governments to reconsider the best use of energy.
But the other companies are not left out of the crisis, since they all use energy, and they are doing it wrong. An inefficient and even uncontrolled use of resources, a total lack of awareness and understanding of the quality and productivity that must accompany production processes, leads to consumption far above what is really necessary.
Today more than ever implement kaizen in companies, as a system of continuous improvement in their levels of productivity, quality, costs, cycle times and consumer satisfaction is essential. And, beware, not only because of the incessant increase in the price of fuels, but also because of the uncontrolled generation of pollutants that is taking place.
Achieving higher quality and productivity implies not only satisfying consumers with higher value products and services, but also achieving a balance between the company and its economic-ecological and social environment.
There are very few companies in the world that have adopted the “lean production” system, and those that have done so did so when they reached a state of crisis.
In this new world scenario, entrepreneurs and managers must become aware of anticipating the crisis by generating changes in their companies that make them competitive, thereby making their survival in the medium and long term feasible.
The increase in the price of crude oil is not only a threat, but at the same time it constitutes a great opportunity to achieve a genuine and consistent competitive advantage.
