March 4, 2026
Ken Mills Toyota dealer principal Eamon Viner introduced businesspeople at the Kingaroy Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s latest meet’n’greet to the key Japanese business philosophy of “kaizen” , ie. continuous improvement.
Mr Viner told the February get-together that the business had grown rapidly post-COVID, and now represented five manufacturers and employed 80 people.
To ensure the best customer service, they used the Toyota Production System which meant building quality into a process to ensure long-term improvement.
He said this had been part of Toyota’s philosophy since the 1920s but could be adopted to improve any business.
The aim was to create an efficient, high-quality system that respected workers as well as maximising customer value.
“It is creating the right product or doing the right process at the right time in the right quantity to satisfy your customer’s need,” Mr Viner said.
He said problems could be brought up, talked about and visualised to create counter-measures.
Teams could raise issues so they could be addressed, eg. tracking and then improving the vehicle servicing process to minimise workshop delays and improve customer satisfaction.
The results of the changes were then tracked to guide further improvements.
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The other guest speaker at the meet’n’greet was local livestock transporter Jared Seiler, from Seilers Transport, who is also president of the Livestock and Rural Transporters Association of Queensland.
Mr Seiler said when he bought his mother out of the business in 2005 it had five trucks; this was now 23 with two more on order.
Four years ago he bought out his father’s share, and now Seilers Transport – which specialises in pig and cattle transport – operates from Charters Towers to Victoria.
He said the Livestock and Rural Transporters Association was lobbying on behalf of the industry with the State Government to provide effluent dump sites (disposing of effluent is an issue for livestock transporters) as well as Transport and Main Roads to achieve farm-gate access for B-Doubles which would eliminate animal transfers between trucks.
It was also working to develop better cross-loaders to improve driver safety and animal welfare when transferring animals between vehicles.
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Other KCCI News
- The KCCI will be holding a Golf Day at the Kingaroy Golf Club on July 26 to raise funds for to provide free crisis counselling as part of the KCCI’s SMILE program. Michael Sanford, from Bunyarra Counselling, said the program delivered $48,000 worth of free services last year.
- The KCCI is updating its Capability Catalogue which showcases local businesses to contractors and government.
- The South Burnett Regional Council will host a report-back on the Kingaroy Community Plan on April 29.
- Next KCCI Meet’n’Greet will be held on March 24 in the “Old Hangar” function area at ‘Bethany’.
