Being in charge of automotive supply chain management over the last year has been a lot like trying to fight a raging forest fire with nothing more than a watering can and a garden trowel. Yet in the middle of this unprecedented conflagration, a system created by Keith Robertson and his team at Toyota is helping supply-strapped dealerships closely monitor where their ordered vehicles are in the delivery pipeline.

The system’s automatic updates allow dealerships to better communicate with their customers about when their ordered vehicles will actually be arriving at the store — turning a bright light on what had been an informational black hole between factory door and dealership driveway. Perhaps the best thing about what has come to be known as Toyota’s Project ETA is the fact that Robertson and his team were able to create it from whole cloth because they thought it might come in handy as inventories tightened and direct consumer ordering increased.

Robertson, 53, has been with Toyota since joining its massive Georgetown Assembly Plant in 1993 and has held a variety of executive roles over the years. He was appointed to his current position in 2020 and also serves as president of Toyota Logistics Services.