Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama (TTMAL) Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama has found another way to spread one of its guiding principle of "Respect for People". TTMAL employees have increased their pledge for tornado relief volunteers to 10,000 hours in the month of May.
As of Friday, May 20, TMMAL has completed more than 7,200 hours of volunteer work. The majority of these hours will be completed in North Alabama.
Toyota also donated $1 million to the American Red Cross for tornado relief efforts to assist Alabama on the road to recovery. TMMAL team members are volunteering on nonproduction days that were already scheduled for the month of May due to parts shortages caused by the Japan earthquake. Team members who choose to volunteer receive a full day’s pay for their time.
TTMAL sent volunteers to projects in seven different counties of North Alabama (Madison, Limestone, Lawrence, Cullma, Marshall, Dekalb and Jackson), many of which were in their own communities. The company also chartered buses and sent people to areas with the greatest needs. Volunteers have completed: debris clean-up and tree removal in damaged neighborhoods, dismantled and destroyed poultry houses for local farmers, and unloaded and sorted donations at distribution centers.
TMMAL also sent a group to volunteer for relief efforts in Tuscaloosa on Thursday, May 19 and Friday, May 20. Team members conducted debris clean-up in Holt, a community that was hit especially hard by the tornado on April 27, 2011.
Company officials said if a community needs relief efforts, ask for Toyota vounteers as the company is continuing to schedule opportunities during nonproduction days in June. The company said team members show respect for the property owners where they volunteer by doing the best job on the task they have been assigned.
Another of Toyota’s guiding principles is “Genchi Genbutsu,” which means “go and see” in Japanese. The idea is to observe a project first-hand, and then use your observations to identify areas for improvement or “kazien.”
This principle is based on:
a. If you don’t “go and see” the areas that have been severely damaged, it’s hard to grasp the impact
these storms have had on the community.
b. By going directly to these sites, the company can contribute to continuous improvement and recovery
efforts in those areas.