Production Systems of Toyota and GM The differences between these two production systems are very clear, in fact it can be said that they are the total opposite of each other in terms of their approach to, and methods of, production.
One of several aspects of the Toyota production system that differ from The GM system is that Toyota puts a flow into the manufacturing process, while GM has lathes located in the lathe area, milling machines in the milling area Toyota places a lathe, milling machine and a drilling machine in the actual sequence of the manufacturing process.
Toyota recently announced it seeks to become a much more efficient and effective automobile manufacturer in the extremely competitive automobile industry. This particular
(5) Liker, Jeffrey K. The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print.
The vehicle manufacturing plant is located at Burnaston in Derbyshire, the engine manufacturing plant is located at Deeside in North Wales.(Toyota Manufacturing UK 2006 ) the company has, since production began in 1992, grown to its current size with 5,500 members are employed. As ...
1950 - Toyota modernized their production facilities; Toyoda took the idea from Ford Motor Company plants that he visited in July of this year.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, U.S.A. (TMM) is deviating from the standard assembly line principle of jidoka in an attempt to avoid expenses incurred from stopping the production line for seat quality defects. This deviation has contributed to the inability to identify the root cause of the problem, which has led to decreased run ratios on the line and an excess of defective automobiles in the overflow lot for multiple days. If this problem isn’t fixed quickly, an increased amount of waste will continue to be incurred and customer value will be threatened.
Toyota was once known for its top quality, safety, and world renowned processes. It was one of the top automobile manufactures in the world. Toyota was one of the first to introduce a 36 thousand mile bumper to bumper warranty. This is something of a standard now-and-day, but it was something revolutionary when introduced in 1988. Toyota was part of some of the major methods of quality management. It was on the leading edge of Japanese developed Total Quality Control (TQC) and Six Sigma (Cole, 2011). Toyota originated and perfected TPS (Toyota Production System). Toyota was the company that all others wanted to emulate; it was their culture and processes that everyone else reached for, not just auto companies (The Economist, 2005). In 2001 Toyota was run on the basis of 14 principles known as, “The Toyota Way”. In 2007 it passed GM as the largest automaker (Heller & Darling, 2012). It was during this time that the company giant was brought down by the benchmark that it had once set; its quality.
The business environment is increasingly becoming competitive and challenging. In the recent past, manufacturers have found themselves facing the threat of dwindling profit margins due to unfortunate global events such as the 2007 global financial crisis and the on going Europe economic crisis. The need to improve operation efficiency so as to ensure current and future investment yield the highest rate of return has therefore become extremely important. Manufacturers are now actively engaged in, managing their costs, Research and Development, adopting best procurement strategies, among other Actions. While such actions might eventually lead to positive results, additional business value can be achieved through proper management of the supply chain (Waymer, Ivanaj & Mussa 2009; Krivda 2004).
Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japan based company, whose headquarters are located in Aichi Prefecture. The company was founded by Kiichiri Toyoda in 1937. Currently the company’s CEO is Akio Toyoda. Toyota is basically into cars and it is one of the top players in the world in this industry. Toyota also owns two other brands namely Lexus and Scion, which gives the company a lot of advantage over it’s other competitors. Toyota manufactures sedans, saloons, suvs, muvs, pick-up trucks and buses. During the year 2013 Toyota had approximately 333,498 employees, who were working globally. In March 2013, Toyota was ranked as the thirteenth biggest organization globally in terms of its revenue. In the following table we can see the financial report of Toyota Motor Corporation in the year 2013-
According to Toyota, they have undertaken a manufacturing revolution that has fundamentally changed established practices; all the way back to the product development and design. They have done this by integrating four areas: design, production engineering, procurement, and component supply. They have achieved higher quality at lower costs by creating standardized, multipurpose components. Also the reduction in cost has heightened the value and fortifies the competitiveness of product. To do this, Toyota has required intensive coordination with its suppliers. Another factor of their Integrated Low Cost is that Toyota steadily feeds cost improvements back into the product to raise their value along with the fact that four Toyota’s seven corporate auditors are outside corporate auditors.
The development and implementation of Toyota’s lean production system has set a benchmark in the automobile industry and inspired many other companies in the automobile industry and other industries as well to adopt it.
The nonmanufacturing companies can learn and apply from Toyota’s philosophy and practices as listed below:
Toyota- focused differentiation, medium pricing, breadth of product line is low. Company is known for quality products, and nice styling.
First of all, Toyota has been very successful in differentiating on the basis of superior design and quality. This has led to Toyota being able to create a brand image that is very strong and one that brings to mind quality, long lasting cars when a potential customer sees it. The strength of Toyota’s brand image has been seen in recent years with the recalls and problems Toyota faced in dealing with these recalls. Toyota was able to survive these problems because they had such a long and proven track record of quality and superior. Another, area that Toyota differentiates is in technology. Toyota was the first successful mass produce the hybrid car on the market when it released the Prius in 2003. Being the first to get their hybrid on the market allowed Toyota to gain a large portion of the market share in the area of hybrid
Manufacturing methods advanced and transformed throughout the Industrial Revolution. Mass production is a system of manufacturing where machines quickly produce large quantities of product. Interchangeable parts are pieces of products that are made identically. These identical parts were easy to replace and allowed products to last longer. Henry Ford, who was the previous owner of Ford Motor Company, used interchangeable parts in the automobiles he produced to help keep the costs down. Ford also developed the assembly line. An assembly line uses workers and machines in a succession to create
Different nations within which Toyota operates have different political, technological, social, and cultural environments. To safeguard the company’s overall image, there must be effective communication between the head office and regional quarters. This is especially important in the area of quality control, as Toyota currently grapples with safety issues facing several of its car models.