He says he sent that letter four years ago, and Toyota executives never responded.
For 45 years, Tadao Wakatsuki worked the assembly line at the Motomachi factory in Toyota City, Japan. He took pride in his work, pressing metal to shape the outside of cars, believing it was for the good of society. "It was a good life I had."
But in the last decade as demand for small fuel-efficient cars skyrocketed, Wakatsuki and the small union he represented began to fear the company was dangerously cutting corners and compromising safety.
So they took a risk.
Four years ago, the men wrote this letter voicing serious concerns about what they saw as Toyota's move to cut costs, outsource critical design work, limit car testing on new models and hire more workers they believed were less qualified. "Workers without skill become in charge of making cars. As a result, naturally, the quality had to be compromised. We were very anxious of the danger," he said.
From 2000 to 2005, the number of Toyota recalls had been rising steadily. The letter warned the company could face a serious crisis if it failed to act.
The company's reply?
"We do not reply,"Wakatsuki said.
Toyota now acknowledges the letter and says it strictly adheres to all Japanese and U.S. labor laws and regulations. This past February, company president Akio Toyoda admitted priorities got confused.
Competition to be first along with consumer demands outpaced quality control. "I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick," he said.
Toyota set the gold standard for its lean manufacturing model, minimizing cost, maximizing efficiency. But economic research specialist Cliff Waldman says the company forgot a key goal. "They over-emphasized efficiency and rapid growth without the goals of careful new product development, efficient information sharing."
That information sharing or lack of it would come to haunt Toyota. Executives in the U.S. seemingly were kept in the dark during Toyota's major car recall in more than 30 European countries last September, just before similar recalls hit the U.S.
"We're not perfect and we didn't share the experience that we had in Europe. We didn't know about it in North America," Toyota North America Chief Quality Officer Steve St. Angelo said.
In March, St. Angelo was named chief quality officer for North America to ensure U.S.-based engineers have a greater say in warning and fixing potential defects. Still, veteran Toyota worker Wakatsuki, who is now retired, is skeptical, saying his former bosses hide rather than deal with problems.
"They would avoid announcing defects as recalls if they can. They would call it service campaign or anything else to fix the problem."
