Section 7. The Functions that Supported Globalization

Item 2. Reducing Cost and Ensuring Quality

Putting CCC21 into action

In July 2000, TMC launched CCC21, a cost reduction initiative that utilized new concepts with the aim of building vehicles with world-leading competitiveness in the 21st century.

CCC21 was a company-wide initiative involving collaboration between engineering, production engineering, manufacturing, procurement, and suppliers to revise Toyota's fundamentals. Firstly, quality and price targets for the vehicles delivered to customers were set, and the function and quality of components and cost level required to realize these targets were assessed. At the same time, the company increased efforts into cross-model initiatives, studying each component to determine what parts could be made common across multiple vehicle models.

Specifically, the company selected 173 components for which it aimed to achieve the world's lowest price through a 30 percent reduction in cost. The initiative was characterized by having parts suppliers be involved from the concept development stage to discuss ideas and having them remain involved through to the manufacturing process. This approach for comprehensively lowering costs was known as "concept in". In addition, parts manufacturers worked to build modularized products with a range of functions built in, reducing the number of parts required and shortening the assembly process.

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