TROY – Acting for others and collaboration are key pillars of the Toyota Way.

Toyota Missouri took a fun approach to incorporate those two ideas during a recent JKK quality training.

Ji Kotei Kanketsu, or JKK, means “Built in Quality with Ownership” and is the process of developing, maintaining and improving work processes by working in cooperation with previous and subsequent processes to continuously produce the best outputs.

For Toyota Missouri’s JKK training, team members from the production line got together to assemble bicycles. Anyone who has ever attempted to put together a bike while following the instruction manual knows how frustrating it can be. For this exercise, participants left the book in the box and attempted to assemble the bikes by learning from their mistakes and collaboration. Upon competition, the bikes were all checked for proper assembly and prepared for safe use.

Kelly Paskiewicz, senior engineering manager, quality, with Toyota Missouri, said this training underscores how valuable team member feedback is and why their input is critical to continuous improvement.

“Open dialogue between the team on the line and the people who develop our processes is incredibly important,” said Paskiewicz. “Our team members know what works and they are going to have solutions that make them more effective and make their jobs safer.”

The bikes were donated to Youth In Need, an eastern Missouri-based family services agency dedicated to building positive futures for the community’s most vulnerable children, teens and families.

“We have a long-standing partnership with Toyota Missouri,” said Pat Holterman- Hommes, president and CEO of Youth In Need. “These bikes brought joy to so many families and this gift speaks volumes about Toyota’s commitment to giving back.”

To thank Toyota Missouri for their contributions, this year and throughout the past 10 years, the plant was named Youth in Need’s Outstanding Corporate Partner for 2024.