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Comment by jdlshore | Hacker News Reader

I hear this complaint frequently, and I always wonder if the people making it are well-informed about supply chain logistics or are just parroting what they’ve heard elsewhere. Because my understanding of TPS and Lean is that it solved serious issues with supply chains involving waste due to outdated and rusted (figuratively and literally) inventory. It also doesn’t prevent the use of buffers to absorb shocks, as Toyota demonstrated in the first year of the pandemic.

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The problem isn't with the methodology itself but with how it's implemented in practice. Lean makes your buffers a lot more visible to management, and if you combine that with a culture of short-sighted cost-cutting, you run into issues. The problem isn't lean; it's a management culture of short-sighted cost-cutting.

And that management culture is an effect of how compensation works. Cut costs, put "reduced overhead by X Million" on resume, either get promoted or switch jobs before negative impact happens.

Which might explain how Toyota has less of these problems. I don't think Toyota executives are the type of people to make these kinds of moves and hop jobs.

Ted Ogawa, President and CEO of Toyota North America (https://pressroom.toyota.com/biographies/tetsuo-ogawa/):

> After joining Toyota in 1984....

Mark Templin, President and CEO of Toyota Financial Services(https://pressroom.toyota.com/biographies/mark-templin/):

> Since joining Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) in 1990, Templin has held a number of positions.

Chris Nielsen, Executive Vice President, Product Support & Chief Quality Officer (https://pressroom.toyota.com/biographies/chris-nielsen/):

> Nielsen joined Toyota in 1987 as a buyer at its Georgetown, Kentucky, plant

Toshio Niimi, Executive Vice President, Production Engineering and Manufacturing (https://pressroom.toyota.com/biographies/toshio-niimi/):

> Niimi joined TMC in 1984 and has held positions in the company’s engineering and manufacturing divisions.

Takeshi Uchiyamada, Chairman of the Board of Directors (https://global.toyota/en/company/profile/executives/board-of...):

> Takeshi Uchiyamada was born on August 17, 1946. He graduated from Nagoya University with a degree in applied physics in March 1969, and joined Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) in April the same year.

Shigeru Hayakawa, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors (https://global.toyota/en/company/profile/executives/board-of...):

> Shigeru Hayakawa was born on September 15, 1953. He graduated from the University of Tokyo with a bachelor's degree in economics in March 1977, and joined Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) in April of the same year.

Akio Toyoda, President (https://global.toyota/en/company/profile/executives/board-of...):

> He joined Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) in April 1984.

(He also happens to be the grandson of the founder of Toyota.)

Koji Kobayashi, Member of the Board of Directors (https://global.toyota/en/company/profile/executives/board-of...):

> He graduated from Shiga University with a bachelor's degree in economics in March 1972, and joined Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) in April of the same year.

I can see how that would discourage short-term decision-making.

Here's recent supply-chain thread calling-out a current bottle neck:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1451543776992845834.html

https://twitter.com/typesfast/status/1451543776992845834

That is amazing. Why is the Flexport CEO apparently the only one trying to diagnose and solve this critical problem? It's not even that hard. He lays out a relatively simple solution:

1) Executive order effective immediately over riding the zoning rules in Long Beach and Los Angeles to allow truck yards to store empty containers up to six high instead of the current limit of 2. Make it temporary for ~120 days.

This will free up tens of thousands of chassis that right now are just storing containers on wheels. Those chassis can immediately be taken to the ports to haul away the containers

2) Bring every container chassis owned by the national guard and the military anywhere in the US to the ports and loan them to the terminals for 180 days.

3) Create a new temporary container yard at a large (need 500+ acres) piece of government land adjacent to an inland rail head within 100 miles of the port complex.

4) Force the railroads to haul all containers to this new site, turn around and come back. No more 1500 mile train journeys to Dallas. We're doing 100 mile shuttles, turning around and doing it again. Truckers will go to this site to get containers instead of the port.

5) Bring in barges and small container ships and start hauling containers out of long beach to other smaller ports that aren't backed up. This is not a comprehensive list. Please add to it. We don't need to do the best ideas. We need to do ALL the ideas.

We must OVERWHELM THE BOTTLENECK and get these ports working again. I can't stress enough how bad it is for the world economy if the ports don't work. Every company selling physical goods bought or sold internationally will fail.

The circulatory system our globalized economy depends has collapsed. And thanks to the negative feedback loops involved, it's getting worse not better every day that goes by.

I'd be happy to lead this effort for the federal or state government if asked. Leadership is the missing ingredient at this point.

There is a emission’s control law that is effectively banning any truck older than a 10 years from entering California which would also need a temporary stay to help get the bottleneck cleared as fast as possible.

Please upvote this users comment.

That’s a great thread, thank you. Do note that one of the replies calls his fundamental thesis into question, though: empties are sitting on chassis not due to regulation, but due to lack of equipment for stacking them higher.

Reasonably large mobile cranes exist and the cost of renting one for a day is small compared to the amount of capital bouncing around logistics operations surrounding the Port of LA.

They're not currently in use at truck yards because it's illegal to stack containers high, but if it were no longer illegal then they could be quickly and temporarily set up.

There’s a respondent in the thread claiming that it’s not illegal, but I don’t know how accurate their information is.

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