Bus 307 Operations Management and Quantitative Techniques

Use of the term lean has begun to replace use of the term JIT, and is associated with the Toyota Production system. Lean is broader, although closely related to JIT, and describes a philosophy incorporating tools that seek to economically optimize time, human resources, assets, and productivity, while improving product and service quality. In the early 1980s, these practices started making their way to the Western world, first as JIT and then today, as lean production or lean manufacturing. Lean production has evolved into a way of doing

The product that Toyota was introducing to the consumer was not ground breaking and did not set itself apart from any other product on the market, not only did it not set itself apart it was producing vehicles that closely resembled the competition. Toyota was losing their competitive edge of reliability because other companies were able to replicate their efficient production and reliability and have the same success they Toyota previously held. The customer base for Toyota was not growing and more of a following due to loyalty to their past performance. The company had also lost its innovative edge and with this was losing its market share. I see due to Toyota’s lack of initiative by not moving more manufacturing to the US and innovation as an opportunity to enter the small car market that was previously dominated by the Japanese manufactures. With all this said Toyota still had a great reputation for producing a very reliable product, with this reputation Toyota could be one change away from becoming a major player

Stickley Furniture has a long tradition of manufacturing and selling fine furniture goods. The Consulting Firm has been charged with the responsibility of evaluating and explaining how the company operates and tracks jobs and inventory. Also, the pros and cons of how orders are processed are evaluated. Finally, suggestions are made regarding the way the company should handle forecasting, inventory, work measurement, facility layout, shipping, quality, goals, and recognition. A full change in operations could result in greater customer satisfaction, reduced electricity usage, greater customer satisfaction, faster and less costly delivery of goods sold, less

Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric.

Toyota is one the most storied companies in the world today, an aspect that has led to it drawing the attention of researchers, journalists and executives who are seeking to benchmark its production system that is extremely famous across the world. This is influenced by the company’s ability to outperform its competitors in terms of cost reduction, reliability, quality and market capitalization. This was exhibited by the company’s ability to replace Daimler Chyrsler as the third largest car company in North America in 2005 in terms of both sales and production.

In the 1950s Toyota came up with the idea of lean thinking which is a set of functioning ideas and techniques that helps generate the greatest importance for individuals by decreasing waste and delays” (Feeney, 2015). The purpose of this systematic approach was to change the establishments thought process and value, which would eventually lead to the conversion of the

In the book, The Toyota Way, Jeffery Liker provides an in-depth account of, not only the tools and methods of Toyota’s Production System, but also a broader explanation of the principles at work in the Toyota culture. This philosophy of manufacturing can be summarized through two important pillars: “Continuous Improvement” and “Respect for People.” These pillars help define Toyota’s approach to doing business, were the focus is on continuous learning and embracing change. By incorporating this ideology and its 14 principles into its manufacturing operations, Toyota has become the greatest manufacturer in the world. In this essay, I will provide a synopsis of Toyota’s 14 principles and also offer my own account of lean manufacturing at CNH Industrial.

As mentioned in the company policy, quality is of utmost concern for Toyota. This means that in 1989, when there were issues with the company’s luxury cars

sales of Chrysler automobiles in the same year, experienced huge setbacks in 2009 when the company found itself scrambling to protect its name brand image due to consumer complaints about “deadly defects in coolant pumps, brakes, accelerators and even floor mats” (Ross, 2010, p.1). This prompted the recall of over 10 million Toyota vehicles worldwide.

Due to Toyota’s financial greed and unethical practice, vehicles were wrongly equipped with faulty brakes, sticking pedals and poor quality door looks, which caused death of many Toyota customers and hundreds of dollars in damages. When a company like Toyota acts in an ethically questionable manner, it causes the company to lose customers and develop a negative reputation. Customer tend to lose faith in the company and have to look for better service

Considering the case study, Toyota’s current reputation and status in the global market is marked with recalls due to defective parts, malfunctions and safety risks—numerous lawsuits—and fines

"Lean" fundamentally refers an approach in the manufacturing world that was originally developed by Toyota in the 1950 's. At this time Japanese industry was

Toyota has had numerous outer issues to handle when contriving and doing their own particular technique. The market has various car dealerships, departing the level of rivalry at a high rate. They need to consider what their rivals are doing to allure purchasers and match or top their arrangements with the Toyota line of autos. As such, they have possessed the capacity to do this effectively. The auto organizations have needed to consistently improve the elements offered in their models, while attempting to keep the costs as low as would be prudent to pull in purchasers. They have succeeded for a long time since they have been so flexible with their items. As of now, Toyota, alongside a few other auto organizations is encountering down turns in their edge. The car business depends on whether purchasers can buy autos. Since the falling of the economy in various nations, this has been harmed who can stand to purchase autos. Toyota has chosen to offer a six year no enthusiasm financing. This will extremely diminish their salary.

In 2009 Toyota Motors (TM) posted a net loss of $4.6 billion ("Market watch," 2014). From 2009 to 2011 Toyota encountered a number of factors contributing to their economic downturn. It began with recalling millions of vehicles, for quality related problems, followed by natural disasters hitting northeastern Japan. These disasters wiped out Toyota’s production capabilities (Tabuchi & Vlasic, 2014). While these events were occurring, the cloud of the 2008 global financial crisis was still being felt. This crisis weakened demand in the automotive industry. This weakened demand increased the competitive landscape for all automotive manufactures. This drove down automotive prices and effectively contribution margins (i.e. sold less

As a result, any decrease in the level of quality is likely to have severe repercussions to the organization. One of the telling signs of the quality decrease has been the number of recalls since 2009. Over the seven-year period, there have been three recalls due to the defects noticed in a significantly large number of vehicles (Rankin, 2014). According to Rankin (2014), an estimated 9 million vehicles were affected in a recall in 2009, approximately 7 million automobiles were recalled in 2012, and approximately 7 million vehicles were recalled by Toyota USA in 2014.The issues that led to the recalls were related to the manufacturing process, which fellunder the operations management. Toyota needed to maintain the same level of quality in all its global operations (‘Toyota Production System, ' n.d.). Nonetheless, thatproved difficult due toregional decentralization of Toyota plants.