West Midlands construction leaders experience Toyota’s world-class engine plant
Sixteen senior construction leaders from across the West Midlands attended BBI Services Construction to Production Masterclass to experience Toyota’s world-class engine manufacturing plant. This was funded by the West Midlands Combined Authority Innovation Programme and delivered by BBI Services on behalf of the West Midlands Advanced Construction Cluster (WM ACC), which BBI jointly lead.
The masterclass forms part of the Cluster’s ambition to accelerate the adoption of advanced construction across the region, strengthening collaboration, improving performance and supporting more consistent, production-led outcomes.
The masterclass is centred around the principles of the Toyota Production System, with a focus on culture, mindset and operational discipline. Leaders experience the world’s leading production system in action, gain insights from Toyota’s experts and learn how it can improve the unique challenges of the construction sector.
Mark Worrall, CEO, BBI Services “Having been trained by Toyota’s Japanese Engineers, I understand how Toyota’s production philosophy has the potential to transform how construction performs. Seeing it in action brings that to life in a way that no presentation ever could. That is why we continue to bring leaders here.”
The masterclass brought leaders together to experience how world-class manufacturing is enabled through a culture of continuous improvement, clear strategy and accountability at every level.
Key takeaways from the visit included:
● Identifying and eliminating the Seven Wastes
● The role of culture in driving performance
● Transparency from leadership to shop floor
● Creating space for continuous improvement
● Strategic alignment across the organisation
● Preventing poor quality from reaching the customer
The masterclass supports a shift away from fragmented, project-led delivery towards a more production-focused approach, helping organisations achieve greater consistency, quality and predictability.
Jeff Endean, Director, Cast Consultancy “This was an inspiring and valuable day for our cluster. Seeing best practice in another sector gave leaders from several WM ACC manufacturers clear lessons that can be applied in their businesses and across advanced construction in the West Midlands. This is a great first step toward improving productivity and meaningful innovation, which are core goals for WM ACC, and a demonstration of how we can use our collaboration to add value for cluster companies.”
Josef Galkowski, Assistant Delivery Manager (Cluster Growth)
“It was fantastic to be able to bring 14 businesses from WMACC to the Toyota Engine Factory in Deeside to learn about people-centred continuous improvement and innovation processes in the automotive industry. Cluster members were able to jointly discuss how their learnings could be applied and then implemented into their own advanced construction businesses in the West Midlands.
I found it particularly interesting how Toyota Manufacturing UK have categorized different types of waste that manufacturing companies might encounter, from overprocessing to overproduction, and how they have embedded the spirit of “Hoshin Kanri” (meaning “direction management”) at all levels of their organisation, from the boardroom to the shop floor.”
Several attendees have already expressed interest in further visits for their wider teams as part of their leadership and development programmes.
The masterclass provided a valuable opportunity for West Midlands construction leaders to see proven production principles applied at scale and work with BBI to facilitate how these approaches can support improved performance across the sector.
The West Midlands Advanced Construction Cluster continues to focus on practical collaboration and real-world learning that helps move construction forward across the region.