Notionで変えるトヨタの未来の仕事。情報集約と一元管理で業務効率化を加速
トヨタの研究部署「トヨタ自動車未来創生センター」。そこでは「未来のトヨタが必要とするであろう」研究に加え、未来創生センター全体の管理や、研究成果を対外発信する広報訴求も本部のメンバーが主体的に実施しています。また研究に取り組んでいるため、社内の標準的なシステムに加え、よりスピード感のある、かつ、効率的に業務を進められる新しいシステム導入にも意欲的です。社内情報の集約と一元管理、情報と業務フロー可視化実現に導いたのは、ひとりの社員の声から始まったNotionの導入でした。
体験談
Taku Wakasugi
Toyota Frontier Research Center
Kumiko Buma
Toyota Frontier Research Center
1
Streamlined workflows in Notion reduce approval timelines by 3x
For the researchers at Toyota, sharing findings with the public is just as important as conducting the research itself. To do this, the research center promotes their work on social media for the world to engage with. But doing so requires a rigorous approval process to ensure accuracy and maintain the integrity of the Toyota brand. Before switching to Notion, this process was a tedious back-and-forth exchange of messages between various teams that was painfully inefficient.
With Notion, every post gets drafted and sent for approval in an easy-to-follow workflow that ends with a single click of the “approve” button that reduced approval timelines by 3x. Instead of the back and forth messages, the team can quickly check statuses and receive automated notifications of changes and updates.
The previously complex approval process for posts can now be completed with just the click of a button.
Not only do our streamlined workflows in Notion save us time, they also make it easier to stay up to date on task details and progress. This means our social media posts are more accurate, and we can publish them faster than before.
Taku Wakasugi
Toyota Frontier Research Center
Toyota Frontier Research Center
2
Instant access to a single source of truth boosted efficiency and collaboration
In addition to workflows, Toyota also keeps more dynamic information like research schedules and budgets in Notion. What used to be captured in multiple versions of a spreadsheet with a single owner is now in a shared Notion database. Now, instead of struggling to figure out which spreadsheet is reliable and up-to-date, everyone at Toyota can turn to the same Notion database as their single source of truth.
Plus, with automations and notifications, the right people get updates when a status property has been changed. And seeing that same database in a timeline view gives everyone a cohesive overview of what’s going on across the organization and when.
Toyota’s research schedule gives everyone at the company a clear overview of what research is going on when in one comprehensive dashboard.
3
Consolidate information so you don’t need to look anywhere else
The group conducting R&D on humanoid robots struggled to efficiently use their meeting minutes and background information because they were stored in different places.
By using Notion, they could centrally manage all this information in a single database, including morning meeting minutes, tasks, and research knowledge. This made daily morning meetings more efficient, as members could consolidate information on the meeting minutes page. Progress management also became easier by categorizing tasks as issues, defects, bugs, and other useful titles. Research knowledge can now be stored in the database with one click using Web Clipper. Consolidating all this information in Notion means group members don't need to look anywhere else.
Each of Toyota’s teamspaces streamlines access to information, creating a dedicated area for every team to keep their notes, projects, and knowledge, all customized to suit their unique ways of working.
We can’t just rely on our memory. Notion let’s us document and access the latest important information easily, which puts us all at ease and made catching up after returning from my maternity leave seamless.
Kumiko Buma
Toyota Frontier Research Center
Toyota Frontier Research Center
4
Notion’s customizations and versatility now fuels a culture of documentation
What many at Toyota have enjoyed most about Notion is the ability to express any type of information with different types of standardized content blocks. Whether it’s text, an image, or a table, customizing pages allows Notion to be used for a wide variety of use cases at the company. This not only cuts the time it takes to create a doc in half but also makes the work feel more enjoyable.
Making the work easier and more enjoyable ultimately results in a more robust culture of documentation at the company that benefits everyone and drives their research forward faster than ever before.
Toyota transformed simple meeting notes with action items, timelines, and visualizations all organized in a database so everyone’s informed and prepared.
