I don't see that this is just another PR article, more that there will always be a place for craftsmen in Toyota, even in the face of the wave of production automation.
One thing I admire from the Japanese culture, is that they take `craftsmanship` very seriously in all aspects of work.
I gain this appreciation after working part-time as a kitchen-hand in a number of Japanese restaurants throughout my uni days.
Those that are `authentic` Japanese (ran by Japanese owners) has a very methodical process and obsess over every single detail.
Even a simple task such cooking rice has an elaborate process and specific technique that I must always follow through. Just two examples:
* the amount of water to put into the rice depends on the season (i.e. dry vs wet season at harvest), must be exact to the millilitres.
* the specific motion of washing (or more appropriately `grinding`, as the water has been sieved out).
The chef always check the rice after it cooks and gave me feedback, every single time.
I completely disagree, the type of craftsmen you're referring to will cease to exist at the company in the future. The very concept of craftsmanship is antiquated by the idea of intelligent machines. That is, machines that can learn.
No matter how hard a human tries to "obsess over every single detail" they will simply be unable to compete with a machine intelligence in this regard. All the things you listed are so obviously suited to be tasks that intelligent machines can excel and surpass humans at. Even unintelligent machines would fare quite well against a human at all the tasks you listed.
You may argue that there's an art to craftsmanship that machines "will never duplicate the creativity of humans." I hear that like 20 times a week and it's not true. This falsehood lies in a flawed premise. The premise that the machines doing art/crafstmaship will seek to "replicate" human creativity is simply false. Human creativity doesn't necessarily replicate the creativity of other humans; why would a machine creativity need to replicate? Many intelligent machines are already making art online. Machines do not need to replicate. Intelligent machines can create on their own, independently. People are doing this with twitter bots now.
Notice I use the word "machine intelligence" and not just machine. A machine is process that has been animated in the physical world. A machine intelligence is fundamentally different. It learns and is better than we are at most (if not all) things. I understand that this eventuality is terrifying to people. Being scared of the inevitable doesn't stop it. We need to be thinking about this now so we can make plans to figure out what do with humans once these machines proliferate through our society.
As an aside I also love Japanese culture. I had the opportunity to travel to Japan after high school. It was great.
One thing I admire from the Japanese culture, is that they take `craftsmanship` very seriously in all aspects of work.
I gain this appreciation after working part-time as a kitchen-hand in a number of Japanese restaurants throughout my uni days.
Those that are `authentic` Japanese (ran by Japanese owners) has a very methodical process and obsess over every single detail.
Even a simple task such cooking rice has an elaborate process and specific technique that I must always follow through. Just two examples:
* the amount of water to put into the rice depends on the season (i.e. dry vs wet season at harvest), must be exact to the millilitres.
* the specific motion of washing (or more appropriately `grinding`, as the water has been sieved out).
The chef always check the rice after it cooks and gave me feedback, every single time.