• History
• Further details

History of cost planning, mass planning, and parts standardization in engineering fields

Cost Planning

When conducting new product development, a budget is determined in the product planning stage and new product development is conducted within that budget in order to provide high-quality vehicles at low cost to customers. These activities are referred to as cost planning.

Year	Month	Events	Further details
1960		Value engineering (VE) activities reinforced during the 1960s to achieve cost targets
1966	February	Cost functions in engineering fields launched; - VE management functions in engineering divisions organized for the first time and ongoing VE activities implemented; VE Investigation Committee meetings held to analyze and display Toyota vehicles and vehicles of other companies side by side as a special project
1971		Cost Planning Manual prepared in the Engineering Division
1974	September	Cost Planning Committee established; - Committee aims to enhance engineering-based investigations in the initial stages and monitor achievement of cost planning targets in a timely manner
1975	February	Specialized cost organization established in the Engineering Division; - established in response to the deterioration of company income immediately following the 1973 oil crisis to improve the costs of prototype vehicles
1986		Since 1986, the focus of cost planning has expanded from improving the costs of prototype vehicles and moved forward to activities in the conceptual stages to include diagram preparation
1991		Number of cost planning personnel greatly increased
1992		Cost improvement activities implemented as an emergency income improving measure
1994	June	VE Center opens
	September	BR-VE Department established; - Department established to reinforce unit and component cost planning
1996	January	NBC Committee established; - Committee sought to greatly reduce costs and enhance product competitiveness during development of the first Generation Vitz
1998	October	Cost Planning Division established at Toyota Technical Center-Ann Arbor (TTC-AA); - the cost function organization of the local engineering division spun off as an independent organization in conjunction with local development of North American production vehicles
	November	EQ activities started; - in order to increase profitability of the Corolla, "no sacred cows" activities, "large room" activities, and "tripartite integration" activities implemented as new measures that go beyond the boundaries of earlier activities
2000	February	Cost Competitiveness Construction 21 activities started; - Medium- and long-term activities started on the individual part-level with the aim of achieving the world's lowest prices in 2006
2002		Break Through TOYOTA (BT2) activities started to reform awareness in engineering divisions in 2002
2003	June	EQ Planning & Development Division established; - Cost planning functions divided among individual centers and divisions consolidated to make new advances in division missions based on three pillars: I. Creation of cost functions, II. Cost reform, and III. Work process reform
2004	January	New VE Center opened in the Gijutsu Honkan (Main Building of Technical Center)
	August	Cost planning education in engineering fields commenced
2005	April	Companywide Value Innovation (VI) activities commenced
	July	Hybrid Vehicle Cost and Development Expense Reduction Committee established
2006	January	Cost planning function established at Toyota Motor Europe-R&D Manufacturing (TME-RDM)
		'Cost Planning Concepts and Rules' issued after it becomes necessary to prepare cost planning standard schedules adapted to schedules for new development due to increasingly complex cost planning structures and harder-to-understand processes causing the frequent occurrence of communication problems with relevant divisions; - large-scale process reforms involving 25 divisions started in 2006; results compiled as the Cost Planning Concepts and Rules
2008	April	Emergency VA Activities commenced
	August	A-EQ Committee established; - companywide initiatives to dramatically reduce costs of compact cars implemented
	October	Constituent Component Investigation Committee reestablished
2009	February	BR-VI Department established; - Value Innovation functions for the EQ Promotion Division spun off as a new organization
	December	Ryohin-Renka Cost Innovation (RR-CI) activities start; - in a fight for survival, Toyota seeks to rebuild the world's top competitiveness on the vehicle and supplier parts-level in every region of the world
2010	April	Companywide Value Analysis (VA) activities (name changed from Emergency VA Activities) commenced
2011	January	Cost planning function established at Toyota Motor Asia Pacific Engineering & Manufacturing (TMAP-EM)
	January	Value Analysis Development Division established; - Value Analysis activities propagated throughout the entire company with the BR-VI Department, established as a permanent function, as the driving organization

Mass Planning

When developing new products, the planned mass that is the premise for development of the various functions is determined and the new product is developed based on this in order to provide environmentally friendly vehicles with outstanding performance to customers. The various activities for doing this are referred to as mass planning.

Standardization of Parts

Parts with good design elements can be used for long periods in numerous vehicles. These activities make it possible to reduce development resources, cut costs, stabilize quality, reduce plant space, and reduce the number of spare parts.