⚑ Tokyo, Japan

Airlines to automobiles, Genba walks to Yoyogi strolls, Pascalina's path to Woven by Toyota is a story of bold transitions and continuous learning. She sits down with us to share a glimpse into her teams’ world of pioneering a vehicle simulation and validation platform, as well as insights into the culture and values that Woven by Toyota shares with Toyota.

Q: First things first, you’re a part of the Arene’s Validation Platform teams. What exactly do they do? 

Have you ever seen those car crash tests that they do with dummies? They are essential to test for safety, but you can imagine they are also time-consuming and very expensive to do. Especially with cars today being so dependent on a lot of complex software. Arene’s Validation Platform takes this type of scenario testing, along with the testing of other software systems of a Toyota car, into the virtual world. What used to maybe take a week to test, now with this platform, can be tested in a shortened time frame.

How it works is that it virtualizes different vehicle components/ECUs, simulates different driving scenarios and environmental conditions, and checks how the different software components interact with each other, and the hardware of a car. And so by running continuous validation cycles, analyzing the data, and running through engineering sprints of the problems we catch, we can continuously improve (or “Kaizen” in Japanese) future Toyota vehicles in a much, much more thorough way. And this is just one part of the overall Arene platform, which at the end of the day, is being built to help Toyota improve vehicles every day through software.

Q: How did you come into this role here in Japan?

I actually moved to Japan from abroad specifically for this job! Which was my first time ever visiting the country. I was living in Switzerland, before that Germany (I’m German by the way), working for an airline company. The idea of moving to Asia was something that interested me but there was never quite the right opportunity. And so when the job came up on LinkedIn, I felt it was something I had to try for and get the experience of. So, in July 2020, I made the leap and actually, today marks my second anniversary here!

Q: Happy anniversary! How would you describe your experience here so far?

Thank you! I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first started. But two years in, it is difficult to imagine something else. I’ve really grown to love it here at Woven by Toyota and Japan. Coming to a new industry, a new country, it was definitely a big change of scenery. But being part of this company finding its feet, bringing in lots of different people from different places and industries as it evolved, has been very interesting to be part of. And Tokyo is such an incredible city it is hard not to like it! Except sometimes in the summer heat…

Q: What have you found most interesting about your industry transition?

It’s of course different, but I think seeing your product directly in the air or on the road is a great thing. There is a really rewarding feeling from seeing something you worked on “in the real world”. What I would say is a key difference in the automotive industry, is the faster time-to-market cycles. This opens up a lot more opportunities in terms of responding to and building on, customer needs, wants and hopes! And when you think about a company like Toyota, that already has such a great reputation, the opportunity to help strengthen that even further through software, is really exciting.

Q: You’re not the only one who has come from another industry are you?

No! In fact, there are many people here from different industry backgrounds. Even in our leadership team, some are not necessarily veterans in car manufacturing. But this is also why they have come to Woven by Toyota. To help expand the approach to making Toyota cars, and make it even better through learnings from other industries and expertise.

Q: Looking back on the past two years, what’s been a stand out moment for you?

Probably an initiative I helped start called “Genba Walk”. “Genba” means “the real place” or “the place where the actual work is done and value added” and so this is an initiative where Arene members visit Toyota teams and also the other way around, to create more opportunities for dialogue and understanding. Communication and empathy are very important ingredients of a good end-product, and our walks of the Genba give us an additional space to connect with the people on the front lines. 

Something we talk about a lot in Arene is taking the perspective of our customers, and so being able to learn deeply about how our colleagues at Toyota work in their day-to-day, is very important for us to make valuable software. And with them visiting us, they can learn more about the possibilities of Arene that they might not have considered before. These walks are always memorable for me.

Q: What’s one similarity between Woven by Toyota and Toyota?

There are many. But I would say openness. Everyone here is very open to feedback. For many of us, including me, it’s not always easy to give and receive feedback. But when I talk to my colleagues at Woven by Toyota or at Toyota, I feel that they are always incredibly open to giving and receiving feedback. When we do the Genba walk, everyone is asking “what are the challenges you saw?”, “do you have any suggestions for us to improve X, Y, Z?”. That constant level of modesty and humility… that mindset to be open and want to Kaizen everything, is shared across both companies and I think is quite special.

Q: What’s next for Pascalina?

We’re currently working towards some big milestones for Toyota and its next generation vehicles. And so I’m looking forward to continuing to help our teams kaizen our products and the way we work together so that we can build the platforms that will help Toyota grow into something more. Additionally, after successfully launching the Genba Walk initiative in Arene, we aim to make it a regular program that can be utilized across all of Woven by Toyota.

Outside of the Nihonbashi office, I want to continue to explore Japan further. I’ve managed to travel to a lot of places already - like the beaches of Okinawa to the Japanese Alps - and continue to collect “Goshuins” (calligraphy seals that can be obtained from Shinto shrines or Buddhist Temples in Japan) for my “Goshuin-notebook” so I would very much like to continue to do this - just maybe not together in the summer heat! 

I’m also working on my Japanese. My goal is to watch anime without subtitles so I’m slowly working towards that bit by bit… It is easier said than done! But being surrounded by it definitely helps. Overall, I think there’s quite a lot going on to be excited about!