Toyota Motor North America (TMNA)

Tracking every part, build, and shipment in one place for Toyota

Role

Lead Product Designer

Timeline

9.5 months

Scale

3 workflows, 13+ products on the TMNA Design Team

01 / Overview

Toyota tracks cars from parts to builds to final destinations, but that data lived in multiple systems and spreadsheets. Managers and administrators had to cross-reference them by hand to find bottlenecks in operations, supply chain, and logistics.

02 / My Role

I led design across three workflows (Toyota Logistic Services, Vehicle Distribution Management, and Role Management), turning scattered data into the first unified desktop platform for Toyota Motor North America.

03 / Challenges & Proposed Solutions

Challenges

Data split across multiple systems and spreadsheets
Thousands of data points, slow to find a specific part or shipment
Warehouse conditions on desktop and tablet
Gaps in the design system across 13+ teams

Proposed Solutions

One platform that brings parts, builds, and distribution together
Inline filtering and multilevel drill-down tables
Designs that meet AAA accessibility
New components and patterns, fed back into the system

04 / Key decision

Let users drill in, not dig through

nstead of building separate views for each data source, I designed one consistent pattern: filter inline, then drill down through levels. Users go from the whole supply chain to a single part or shipment without leaving the table. To ground it, our team visited the Toyota plant in San Antonio, TX, where phones weren’t allowed, so we took notes and sketched how Sequoias go from parts to final production.

05 / Results & impact

This replaced a workflow that needed multiple separate systems or spreadsheets.

Faster insight: Inline filtering and drill-down tables cut the steps to find a specific part or shipment from minutes to seconds.

Adopted across the org: My patterns became the standard across all 13+ products on the Cube Design Team within 9 months, reducing rework for other designers.

A template for what’s next: As Toyota’s first data-dense desktop experience, it’s now the reference for new product teams on the same system.

“Your dedication, creativity, and unwavering commitment have been instrumental in moving us towards our goals.”
Audrey Mito, Chief Product Owner, TMNA

The reasoning stream, unified multi-model chat, and team analytics dashboard I designed are now live across IBM Consulting Advantage, the platform used by 160,000+ consultants.

Trust in AI outputs: Consultants can now see the steps and sources behind an answer, instead of getting a result they have to take on faith.

One chat instead of many: Switching models and discovering tools now happens in one place.

Visibility for team leads: Team owners can monitor activity, model and agent usage, and performance from one dashboard, so they can make adoption decisions with data.

“Your approach to problem-solving is incredibly impressive. Regardless of the design challenge, you consistently present multiple robust and well-considered solutions that spark valuable discussions amongst us. It's clear that your thought process involves thorough analysis and consideration.”

Susan Aboela-DaSilva, Senior Product Design & Research Lead, IBM Consulting

06 / Reflection & next steps

1. Design patterns, not just screens.
Every gap I found while building became a fix in the design system. That’s why the patterns spread to 13+ teams instead of staying in one product.

2. Go see the work.
Sketching at the plant showed me how parts, builds, and distribution connect in the real world, which shaped how I structured the platform.

What's Next

I’m continuing to refine the workflows as desktop and tablet versions roll out, keeping everything AAA accessible.

What's Next

I’m continuing to refine the workflows as desktop and tablet versions roll out, keeping everything AAA accessible.