A Serving of Manufacturing Know-How Helps Those in Need

Toyota Teams with Food Bank to Help It Serve More People during Holiday Season

Feed more people in need more efficiently.
 
That was the goal for team members from Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia (TMMWV), who recently shared manufacturing and process best practices with the Facing Hunger Food Bank in Huntington, W.Va. And thanks to the collaborative effort, the food bank is now set to operate more efficiently.
 
Its back pack program, which provides food to youth, increased efficiency by 600 percent. The project also helped increase warehouse storage by two-thirds.
 
“Better serving the community was the ultimate goal,” says Charles Jarrell, TMMWV training and development specialist. “More than that, it was incredibly rewarding to watch the food bank staff learn, grow and challenge their assumptions about how best to serve the community. This just goes to show the things we do every day at the plant can be applied anywhere and make a dramatic impact.”
 
“Being able to help the food bank improve their operations not only benefits the food bank, but it also benefits thousands of people around the Tri-State area,” says TMMWV training and development specialist Michael Smith.
 
The project mirrors the efforts of the Toyota Production System Support Center, Inc. (TSSC). For years TSSC has provided personnel support and manufacturing expertise to agencies across various industries, helping them become more efficient and better able to serve communities.
 
“Toyota’s approach is built around people,” says TMMWV President Millie Marshall. “Knowledge-sharing across industries helps community partners help more people in need, which benefits the communities we live and work in. Once the food bank learned our methodology, they made it their own and utilize it every day.  At Toyota, we believe when good ideas are shared, great things happen.”