Embraer partners with Toyota to enhance aircraft production efficiency

Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer is taking tips from the car industry, signing a partnership with Toyota to make its production more efficient.

Under the agreement with Toyota, which was signed on June 30, 2022, Embraer will adopt the main principles and concepts of the Toyota Production System (TPS), which it said will significantly improve operational efficiency and increase value generation for the company’s stakeholders.

One of the main TPS concepts that Embraer is looking to leverage from the car manufacturer is “just in time”. This will help to create “a continuous flow of manufacturing” and improve how the company makes best use of its resources, thus “avoiding excess of inventories and waste”, Embraer wrote in its statement.

According to Embraer’s chief executive (CEO), Francisco Gomes Neto, the manufacturer’s employees will team up with TPS staff to evaluate the current efficiency of Embraer processes and operations at its main plant in Sao Paulo and later discuss improvements that can be applied on the E-Jet and E-Jet E2 family aircraft production.

“Bringing Toyota to execute this work reinforces Embraer’s commitment to focus on business excellence and sustainable growth. It will be an excellent opportunity to exchange knowledge and accelerate the usage of the Lean philosophy in the production systems while strengthening practices already conducted by the Embraer Enterprise Excellence Program,” the CEO said.

“TPS is a methodology that can contribute to different scenarios and occasions. More than efficiency and productivity, the TPS can provide solutions that allow industry and other sectors to continuously improve their processes, which is one of Toyota’s pillars worldwide,” Rafael Chang, the president of Toyota do Brasil, the subsidiary of Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer Toyota Motor Corporation, explained.