Toyota works engineer to death

[Reatta Man]

Interesting article:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,379301,00.html

Toyota Engineer Designing Camry Hybrid Works Self to Death

Thursday, July 10, 2008 (Associated Press)

TOKYO — A Japanese labor bureau has ruled that one of Toyota's top car engineers died from working too many hours, the latest in a string of such findings in a nation where extraordinarily long hours for some employees has long been the norm.

The man who died was aged 45 and had been under severe pressure as the lead engineer in developing a hybrid version of Toyota's blockbuster Camry line, said Mikio Mizuno, the lawyer representing his wife. The man's identity is being withheld at the request of his family, who continue to live in Toyota City where the company is based.

In the two months up to his death, the man averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month, according to Mizuno.

He regularly worked nights and weekends, was frequently sent abroad and was grappling with shipping a model for the pivotal North American International Auto Show in Detroit when he died of ischemic heart disease in January 2006. The man's daughter found his body at their home the day before he was to leave for the United States.

The ruling was handed down June 30 and will allow his family to collect benefits from his work insurance, Mizuno said.

An officer at the Aichi Labor Bureau on Wednesday confirmed the ruling, but declined to comment on the record.

In a statement, Toyota Motor Corp. offered its condolences and said it would work to improve monitoring of the health of its workers.

There is an effort in Japan to cut down on deaths from overwork, known as "karoshi." Such deaths have steadily increased since the Health Ministry first recognized the phenomenon in 1987.

Last year, a court in central Japan ordered the government to pay compensation to Hiroko Uchino, the wife of a Toyota employee who collapsed at work and died at age 30 in 2002. She took the case to court after her application to the local labor bureau for compensation was rejected.

[Guest 57wagon]

suprise. Toyota has an arm long list of human rights issues. I like how they say: Sorry. We will try better to not kill our employees. Nice.

I still want to know how Toyota is keeping the Tacoma buybacks out of the news. They are paying owners 150% of blue book value to get owners out of Tacoma trucks quietly, seems the frames are rusting in half!

[Reatta Man]

Yeah, here's another story you won't hear much about: Toyota is shutting down their San Antonio plant for three months. That plant makes the Tundra. They expect to convert the Indiana plant which also makes the Tundra to make something else.

Now, when GM and Ford idled truck plants, I saw it on the Internet, on Drudge, Fox and the evening 5:30 p.m. crowd. Heard anything about Toyota idling their plant, outside of the San Antonio and Texas-area media?

[Dave@Moon]

This is more of a cautionary tale than anything else. This poor guy, one of the top engineers in the company and responsible almost personally for the success of the hybrid program (when he died in 2006 his name was listed in <span style="font-style: italic">Autoweek</span> among other publications, but the family has asked that it not be repeated), was on average actually working slightly less than 60 hours/week. I know more than a few people who do that here.

Be careful out there!

[Dave@Moon]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Reatta Man</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Yeah, here's another story you won't hear much about: Toyota is shutting down their San Antonio plant for three months. That plant makes the Tundra. They expect to convert the Indiana plant which also makes the Tundra to make something else.

Now, when GM and Ford idled truck plants, I saw it on the Internet, on Drudge, Fox and the evening 5:30 p.m. crowd. Heard anything about Toyota idling their plant, outside of the San Antonio and Texas-area media? </div></div>

According to the search I just did on Yahoo both of these stories hit the newswires about 3 hours ago. Did you expect them to interrupt <span style="font-style: italic">Love of Life</span> for this?

According to the most complete story I've seen so far ( Detroit News, 7/10/08 ), the San Antonio plant will continue making Tundras, the Princeton (IN) plant will switch from trucks to the Highlander crossover SUV, and the new Mississippi plant (under construction), which was supposed to make Highlanders, will now be converted to build Priuses.

[Rusty_OToole]

Somehow I doubt we will be seeing any stories like that with an American dateline.

Unless some busy executive gets a hernia carrying his salary and bonuses home.

[Guest Skyking]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dave@Moon</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> was on average actually working slightly less than 60 hours/week. I know more than a few people who do that here.

Be careful out there! </div></div>

He$$, I used to work 75 hrs. a week when I was in my 40's humpping paper all day in a printing press. 60hrs. is nothing.

[Steve Moskowitz]

I'm with you Sky! 60 hour IS nothing!

I think most people in my father's generation would agree. Too many young people today are clock watchers, want compensatory time off and do not understand it really is a privilege to have a job! I am thankful to be still working hard and enjoying what I do.

I wonder how many people die of living a sedentary life style with nothing to keep their brain and body energized? I am sure the engineer had mountains of stress but may have had underlying medical conditions, etc.

[Reatta Man]

If I had to guess, I would venture it was the stress of trying to get a complex car with very new technology to an auto show and the market with artificial deadlines.

You know what I mean when you are working for a living. Someone says "do this by 3:00 p.m." so you bust your hump to get it to them before 2:59, only to find out they left early to play golf or something.....

I can tell you what was probably on his desk....messages from engineering about what doesn't work, marketing complaining they don't have photos approved to place in the ads, budgeting complaining because he spent $1.04 too much per widget and it will put the project %500,000 over budget, and so forth and so on....

And all he was trying to do was work his butt off to take care of his family.

[jrbartlett]

Agreed. Lots of people I know put in similar hours for months or even years at a time -- I certainly have. It's more a question of how each individual person handles stress, and the luck of the draw on genetics.

That said, I think we all should focus on moving back to a normal work week.

[hddennis]

Everybody missed the fact that it took two court cases to get the company insurance to pay as they had promised they always would as they took their cut of these peoples salaries each week! Guess Japan is becoming just like us.

[Guest simplyconnected]

Seven-twelves for years at Ford. Didn't even KNOW my first son for the whole time I was an apprentice because school came after overtime.

Every year we go through 'new car launch' which is a necessary evil. Yeah, there are always problems, but realize, this is done by a huge team of people. They are on 'temporary' assignment until production levels out.

We have hired 700 people, all starting on the same day (in Dearborn Ass'y Plant). Production crawls for the first week, until everyone gains proficiency. Then, they crank up the line speed. You guys, this is something to behold. A complete car per minute, every minute, until quitting time. Depending on popularity, sometimes production goes ten hours and two shifts, Monday thru Sat.

Cost? They don't know how much things cost until next year, after they add up all the expenses. Ex: Dies cost big bucks, but some dies are used for several model years. Vendors are forced to sell the same purchased-part next year for less.

American auto companies have been pumping out millions of cars for a hundred years. Don't you think we have the same pressures and responsibilities? The foreign auto companies are just now realizing the humungus volume that we supplied for all those years. Every year has brought 'the newest technology' in every launch. Hybrids are no different.

Our domestic companies use private insurance, like John Hancock. The Japanese government subsidizes many of their benefits costs, like health care (and apparently, life insurance), keeping the price of each vehicle down. Here's a fine example of government-operated insurance coverage.

Too bad the poor guy died and his family had to wait so long, but it looks like things over there are coming around to exactly the same as it is here. Meet the new boss... same as the old boss. Pretty soon, all our doctors and college professors will buy domestic cars because they don't want the same old Japanese car (like everyone else has).

[charlier]

Have to wonder how many engineers who worked for GM, Ford, Chrysler, etc. worked themselves to death?

One would suspect that this very sad situation is not unique to just Toyota.

[Guest Hinckley]

Another factor to consider is what his life was like after work. Edsel Ford comes to mind.

[Matt Harwood]

That's why I got out of building cars and racing them. I could have worked fewer hours at McDonald's and still made more money.

Kudos to the guys who can do it for a lifetime, but once I turned 30, I couldn't (or didn't want to) keep up anymore. When I went home before 8 PM, the other guys looked at me like I was stealing. You could count on at least one all-nighter a week, and Sundays were rarely your own. Feh.

[Guest Skyking]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: charlier</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Have to wonder how many engineers who worked for GM, Ford, Chrysler, etc. worked themselves to death?

</div></div>

Unfortunately Charlie, ours were probably never publicized......

[mrpushbutton]

I know of many UAW members who ate and drank themselves to death, then there are hunting accidents.

[serb]

As I started reading this, I thought 60 hours, I should have been so lucky. A 60 hour week was like a vacation. When I retired, we were doing 13 days with one day off only because we were on afternoons on the Sunday and back to days on Monday. Many of those days were 12 hours, sometimes more.

As I read along, I was glad to see that there were many, many more that thought 60 hours was just about the norm.

Stevo

[Dave@Moon]

The average American work week is about 47 hours today, up about 4 hours since the 1980s. I think Joe hit the nail on the head. It was the intense pressure this guy put on himself that did him in.

It's a terrible shame. His achievements will mark him as among the giants of the auto industry someday. The systems he developed changed this industry as much as anything Charles Kettering did almost a century ago. We're just beginning to enjoy the benefits of his work. It's sad to think what more he might have done.

[Guest Skyking]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dave@Moon</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The average American work week is about 47 hours today, up about 4 hours since the 1980s. </div></div>

Geez Dave, I don't know where you are getting your info from. Places are laying off, going under, jobs being outsorsed. I haven't had 1 hour of overtime in the last 6 years. Here's an industry (printing) where 7 days were normal. I really don't know anyone other than some state job where overtime is after 40 hours..............

[Dave@Moon]

I didn't say anything about overtime. Those figures I got from a simple google search, most coming from a National Sleep Foundation survey.

My wife is an insurance executive. I wish she only worked 47 hours a week, or at least got <span style="font-style: italic">paid</span> ovetime!

Today that's just the price you have to pay to keep your job.

[Guest Hinckley]

Working long hours isn't good for anyone but more often than not it is the stress we put upon ourselves that does us in. The constant dive that keps us in a state of competition even when not on the job is more damaging than long hours.

Before the Great Depression Part Two started sweeping the nation I would have said many folks in our country were a bit a spoiled with a sense of entitlement. When I was working in the mines it was a running joke how many people would quit because it "isn't fair" to have to work every weekend.

That was one of my best jobs - four twelve hour shifts and then four days off. Of course, most every week we would be hit with "voluntary" overtime but the pay was so good I bought and paid for a 1978 Chevy truck, this was in 1980, in six weeks!

When I went white collar the owner expected the job to be our life. So, as I had a family to support, for twelve years I worked six days a week with ten hours a day being considered normal.

Now,after more than thirty five years working my butt off I have a good job - decent income for 4.5 days a week. The down side is I am on call 24/7 but fortunately the after work calls are only about once a month.

Life is roller coaster - enjoy the ride.

[Guest John_Lawrence]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 57wagon</div><div class="ubbcode-body">suprise. Toyota has an arm long list of human rights issues. I like how they say: Sorry. We will try better to not kill our employees. Nice.

I still want to know how Toyota is keeping the Tacoma buybacks out of the news. They are paying owners 150% of blue book value to get owners out of Tacoma trucks quietly, seems the frames are rusting in half! </div></div>

57wagon:

Do you have any information on:

Which Tacomas are subject of the buybacks?

How does one go about contacting Toyota about the buyback program?

When did the program start and when will it end?

Anything else that is specific to the buyback.

Thanks

[Guest ken bogren]

John

Here's a link to a blog post (on blog.toyota.com) about the Toyota Tacoma buyback/warranty extension

[dep5]

At Chrysler they take work away from you if they want you to quit. Remember the "ask Dr Z" ad campaign at Chrysler?

I wrote a letter to Dr Z and told him that I have never complained about my workload but I do complain about not having enough to do. HR gave me 30 days off without pay for contacting senior management without permission.

[Dandy Dave]

Don't want to work long hard hours with dead lines and pressure. Don't ever take up farming. All you do is eat sleep and work. Get the cows milked early and late. Get the hay in before it rains, get the broken machinery fixed so you can "get er done." 7 days a week and sometimes nights being up with a sick animal. It was years ago but Boy oh boy, was I ever glad to see them cows go! Dandy Dave!

[R W Burgess]

Come on Dave, I know you miss those sweet farm aromas?

Wayne

[Matt Harwood]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: dep5</div><div class="ubbcode-body">At Chrysler they take work away from you if they want you to quit. Remember the "ask Dr Z" ad campaign at Chrysler?

I wrote a letter to Dr Z and told him that I have never complained about my workload but I do complain about not having enough to do. HR gave me 30 days off without pay for contacting senior management without permission. </div></div>

Are you kidding?

[Guest John_Lawrence]

Ken, thanks for the link. I'm sure this information is welcomed by those of us who own Toyota Tacomas. It turns out I am not affected as my truck is a 2006. John