Computerization of administrative work

When from April 1947 vehicle repair work for the U.S. military, called 'PD work' was done at the Koromo Plant, the related administrative work was also done completely in an 'American management style'. As a result, new administration techniques-such as new document formats and document archiving methods-were not only mastered, but this experience was also useful in improving future paperwork and moreover provided an opportunity to deal with the rationalization and streamlining of administrative work.

Against the background of improving sales and expanding business in the 1950's, Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. was able to get started on the automation of administrative work. To achieve this, prerequisites for office automation were first put in place, such as the simplifying and standardizing of paperwork, the formalizing of forms and office procedures and the clarifying of the organization for administrative processes.

After this preliminary stage the IBM punched card system was introduced in December 1953, and computing work for material costs, depreciation costs, personnel statistics etc. was automated. Then monthly payment processing was automated with the introduction of the NCR accounting machine in September 1955, and subsequent automation of payroll processing, man-hour computing, inspection statistics, and supplier deliveries followed.

When the Motomachi Plant came into operation in 1959, the amount of administrative work reached the limits of its former capacity and introduction of proper computers became necessary. For that reason the Burroughs E101 for monthly payment processing was introduced in February 1959 and the IBM650 in January 1960 to compensate for the shortage in administrative capacity. Automation of production control also started anew in the same year.

Service parts (which exceeded 30,000 pieces) were, on the other hand, managed with cardex (a card based register) manually, but with the introduction of the IBM305 in August 1961, service parts ordering/shipping/inventory control was automated. Furthermore, through a rapid increase in administrative work that came with expanding business, the shortage in administrative capacity became manifest, resulting in the introduction in October 1963 of the large-scale IBM7074 and the IBM1401.

These computers were introduced for the application to specific tasks in both Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. and Toyota Motor Sales Co., Ltd. Consequently, the most basic car-related sequence of task-from ordering, to production, to delivery of cars-was not automated through the use of computers.

That automation was realized with the introduction of the IBM1440 in the Takaoka Plant where production of the Corolla started in November 1966. While the Assembly Line Control (ALC) functioned in the assembly plant, a system was put in place that managed the ordering/production/delivery in a 10-day-period program.

In 1964 the third generation IBM360 series was introduced, and from 1967 the old models at Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. and Toyota Motor Sales Co., Ltd. were replaced with the IBM360/40 and the IBM360/50.

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