How To Take Care of Traffic The Toyota Way

MCs.

You know that moment right during the commissioning of a building after the tape is cut and guests swarm inside to tour the facility?

Yes, it's often a picture of chaotic congestion.

Staff are overwhelmed with the sudden population surge and quickly the building appears to shrink.

Yesterday I emceed the commissioning of Toyota Ghana's new head office.

But the tour story was different this time around.

Just before the tape cutting ceremony, I asked the seated guests to turn over their official programs.

There on the back of the programs were small, coloured sticky paper.

Red, blue, yellow, black and blue.

During registration, each guest had been given colour coded programs.

This was the system that the Toyota folks used to stagger the building tours.

All those with red programs followed the tour guide and the VIPs who had cut the tape to open the building.

After ten minutes those with green and yellow coded programs were accompanied by a Toyota staff member to start their tours from the workshop and showroom respectively.

Another ten minute wait.

Then it was the turn of the black and blue groups.

All very orderly.

No queues, no congestion, no craziness.

After 45 minutes all five tours had been smoothly conducted.

Definitely a system I will recommend the next time I'm called into a meeting to discuss the commissioning of a new building.

"Colour code the tours" will be my suggestion

That tactic made a difference yesterday. 

And Toyota showed me the way.