Toyota Tsusho America, Inc.

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The Customer

Toyota Tsusho America, Inc. (TAI), located in Georgetown, Kentucky, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho Corporation, which was founded as a trading and supply-chain specialist of the Toyota Group. TAI has been operating in North America since 1960. Over the past four decades, the company has evolved from a trader in a limited number of commodities and finished goods to a multi-business enterprise. As a multi-business enterprise, TAI combines international trading with an expansive range of domestically targeted functions (such as supply-chain services, intermediate goods processing, and so on).

In 1994, TAI conducted Phase I of the J.D. Edwards implementation with the Financials modules. During 1994 and 1995, J.D. Edwards consulted on the project. J.D. Edwards' consultants spent most of their time providing Help Desk services for inquiries on how to use the system.

In 1996, TAI implemented its Distribution modules. The Information Systems (Business Solutions) group set up six profit centers as part of Phase I of the Distribution implementation. The Auto Parts Divisions with offices in Fremont, California; Battle Creek, Michigan; Detroit, Michigan; and Georgetown, Kentucky completed its implementation of J.D. Edwards Distribution modules in 1996. Information Systems added 12 more TAI profit centers in 1997, and planned to add the remaining 20 profit centers in 1998 and 1999. This expansion prompted TAI to seek help with assessing its needs for providing employee support and training with J.D. Edwards. At the time, TAI operated with J.D. Edwards program level A7.3, and later with J.D. Edwards Cumulative Level 6.

The TGKY Corporation of Toyota (Toyota Gosei) produces plastic and rubber automotive parts from raw materials in its Perryville, Missouri and Troy, Michigan plants. TGKY administrative offices are located in Perryville, Missouri. The TG plants also recycle non-automotive rubber.

The Challenge

Toyota Tsusho and the TG Group, both divisions of Toyota Inc., implemented the J.D. Edwards Enterprise Resource Planning system to replace legacy systems that different divisions of Toyota maintained in Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee, and California. Toyota asked Intelligo to perform a site assessment at the Toyota Tsusho headquarters, and then aid Toyota with help desk materials and functions.

In compliance with ISO 9002 regulations, the Steel Division of Toyota Tsusho maintained a full set of instructions. TAI is required to supply ISO 9002 documentation that is compatible with J.D. Edwards. The documentation needed be converted from its old Legacy system to J.D. Edwards.

Toyota asked Intelligo to produce requirements documentation for the implementation's design, to produce customized end-user documentation and training materials specific to each division, and create business process flows for Toyota Tsusho. In addition, the Toyota Tsusho documentation had to meet ISO 9000 standards, which required Intelligo to produce a customized Microsoft Word template prior to documenting each task.

Although the TG Group did not require ISO 9000 documentation, the division still wanted exclusive end-user documentation and training materials, completed and ready for use in training, in just six-week's time. In addition, TG asked Intelligo to develop a schedule spreadsheet and master pages that contained hyperlinks to every Microsoft Word and Visio process flow document.

The Solution

Intelligo participated in Toyota's design meetings at various divisions over the course of months, and created detailed requirements documentation that showed the decisions that were made and the business processes that Toyota planned to implement.

Intelligo then conducted system testing to document the transactions, capture screens specific to both Toyota Tsusho and TG Group divisions, and then customize each group's Content Library of work instructions. Intelligo produced end-user documentation in Microsoft Word format, hyperlinked files and end-user training materials. Further, Intelligo aided TG with scheduling assistance in the form of an extensive Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Intelligo also worked with key Toyota Tsusho and TG Group personnel to perform extensive planning and curriculum design for the training effort, taking into account the hundreds of job roles and varying tasks at each site. This task preceded Intelligo's preparation of a training schedule spreadsheet.

Intelligo's Value-Add

Intelligo provided critical guidance to Toyota Tsusho in every facet of performance support:

		Performance Support Assessment
		End-User Documentation (ISO 9002 and non-ISO)
		Training Materials
		Help Desk Assessment and Materials
		Curriculum and Schedule Master Spreadsheets
		Test Data Setup

Intelligo identified areas of need for a successful training program. This included the best online documentation solution, along with the best training strategy and curriculum design for Toyota's variety of users in each location. This plan for both TAI and TGKY saved both corporations tens of thousands in time otherwise spent searching for and training a performance support staff.

Intelligo consultants crafted, tested, and captured screen examples for more than 200 work instructions in just six weeks' time.

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