Case Study Toyota Motor Manufacturing

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) leadership made a planned decision to establish its first Toyota operation outside Japan to make a Lexus model in North America. It decided on the fast-selling RX330 sports

TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM (TPS) The TPS model depends on its Human Infrastructure. The entire model is base on its PEOPLE & TEAMWORK being successful in doing their job and there buy in to the Key Elements of the TPS culture, which are as follows;  Selection  Ringi decision making  Common Goals  Cross-Trained TPS emphasize the point of its human infrastructure as a “COMMON GOAL” for all personnel in the corporation, which again is emphasize that its employees are its greatest assets as shown by the

Overview: The Toyota Production System has long been hailed and admired as the source of Toyota’s outstanding performance as a manufacturer. TPS aims to eliminate waste, reduce defects and maximize flow. TPS aims to increase efficiency and productivity by employing a unique production system that cuts costs through continuous improvement. Long term goal is to yield sharp reductions in product development and manufacturing lead times. Toyota want to be the industry best and they stand behind their culture to share the wealth of how they do it.

Toyota initially establish in Japan by Sakichi Toyoda. However in 1933 Toyoda company enhance into many field and one of them is automobile industry where it was named as Toyota (Toyotauk, 2013). Today, Toyota able to cross many boundaries and develop their business from plain filed to massive production firms. Toyota currently the global number 1 position after beating General Motors and Volkswagen Group on vehicle sales for 2013 (Gibbs, 2014). According to Gibbs (2014) Japanese firm recorded $9.98 million of sales in 2013. Whereas they have estimated to hit the $10 million mark in 2014. The company operates with approximately 339000 employees in 2014 (The Statistics Portal, 2014). Toyota Motors well known for their innovative

Yet, the public perceptions may be at odds with the objective measures. In Toyota’s case, there have been indications that the quality level of the company’s products had fallen off in a span of few years. There are changes that have taken place during a period when most of the company’s close competitors, such as Fords, were producing more cost-effective and efficient automobiles. In addition, the company’s unique production approach and the emphasis on continuous improvement and learning coupled with a matrix structure are key reasons for the company’s leadership in the cat manufacturing industry. Toyota’s Production Systems (TPS) was founded in the principles of “Just-in-time. This approach has less opportunity for slack resources and focuses of the benefits of efficiency on the part of employees and reduction on waste resources (Griffin and Gregory, 5). Further, Toyota Company enacts its production system with the assistance of its human resources strategies, culture, and organizational structure. Toyota’s Production System emphasizes on learning and modesty when it comes to assessing past success and differentiated them from

Lean manufacturing is one of the core causes of Toyota's competitive advantage. Other business exercises involve the "Jidoka" system; if there are any errors or other operational difficulties, the production process would be closed.

Automobile industry of japan witnessed an awesome accomplishment with the growth of Toyota. It became the biggest maker in the worldwide business. Toyoda kiichiro was hesitant to invest in automobile sector. In the year 1933 the company started its production. In order to have cost efficiency they adopted the mass production technology.

Toyota uses processes that are both implicit and explicit. Toyota’s operations are enormously flexible and responsive to customer demand. According to ASHP Foundation (2007). Many credit Toyota’s success to aspects of the Toyota Production System, established by Taïchi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo from the late 1950s through 1970 (when it gained the name). It includes aspects of Jidoka, just-in-time production, and kaizen, reducing both inventories and defects. The system is used worldwide, but is only one of the reasons for Toyota’s success. The very rigidity of the operations that makes the flexibility possible. That’s because the company’s operations can be seen as a continuous series of controlled tests.

Toyota Production system is a system that was developed initially to account for the specific issues facing one company. The revolutionary ideas and concepts pioneered at Toyota have been used in many other organizations and industries throughout the world. TPS has evolved to help companies maximize value. In this system all activities relating to the manufacturing process.

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 orders the raw materials from all over the world and in the interest of maximizing their availability of raw materials; they maintain good relationships with their suppliers. Toyota uses Just-in-Time system to manage the supply of raw materials as well as optimizing the supply and production processes.

Lean manufacturing originated long before Toyota and Ford, however the thought that it originated with Toyota is flattering since they are the ones who perfected it. By creating the Toyota Production System (TPS), Toyota found a better way to produce large quantities of product efficiently with eliminating the waste factor and while cutting down cost. Taiichi Ohno a former Toyota vice president promoted the idea of JIT (Just-in-Time) which means “producing the necessary units in the necessary quantities at the necessary time.” (Monden) Which leads to Toyota’s ultimate goal in the TPS is to improve productivity for better return in investment. To have continuous flow in a production system Toyota sought out to achieve the concept of JIT and autonomation . Since the TPS is what creates the parts who monitors the JIT system? The kanban system which is an informational system that controls quantities being produce in each process. As the discussion carries on throughout this paper about Toyota and their use of the kanban system the topic

Toyota SCM based on Keiretsu structure that it is working with dependent suppliers that ensure high quality of raw materials. Toyota develops this SCM by creating assembly system which base on Pull demand and just in time operation strategy.

1) How does the andon procedure work and what are its fundamental aspects? How much does it cost to stop the line? What are the benefits of stopping the line?

Toyota Production System (TPS) focuses on the philosophy of eliminating all waste. It can be trace back to its origin – automatic loom which was firstly introduce by Sakichi Toyota. During the past few decays, TPS has evolved through generations by trial and error to improve the efficiency. This is mainly based on the concept of JIT.