Toyota Case Study: Getting It Right The First Time

One thing consistent throughout the entire plant was constant quality checks. Checking the quality of the parts and products that come to each station ensures that when the next team receives the product they can be efficiently install their component of the vehicle, and quality check it themselves. The importance of these procedures relates back to “getting it right the first time.” Practicing this promotes a continuous process flow, ensuring a minimal amount of waste. “Getting it right the first time”, can also be related to the amount of training that the Toyota staff go through, and the constant “quality checks” that they undergo. Ensuring that the employees at Toyota are constantly being critiqued ensure a key company value, “kaizen.

Firstly, many visual controls were used in this factory as it was a very loud environment. Because the environment was very loud due to the machines, verbal communication can be a challenge between team members and the staff. The alternative to verbal communication would be using visuals that everyone can see. By every work station, there are coloured plasma screens to indicate if a staff member was in need of attention. Such as if they need assistance on a work they 're doing or just need a break. This is used by the crew member pulling the cord which then will change the status of the screen to indicate that the person is in need of attention. This is effective in saving time because it would take much longer to relay the information through using their voices or through phone messages. Instead the crew member only has to pull the cord and wait for someone to come to them. Therefore the value of this type of communication would be time. The second type of communication would be through sound, such as how each trolley would honk at the intersection to ensure safety of the staff. This is so that each trolley is aware of the other trolleys and allow those trolleys with the right of way to proceed. If there were no stop signs or the staff members did not beep each other, they might not see them and crash, resulting in injuries. Therefore, safety is the value that this act would help