Comparing Toyota's Manufacturing System

Toyota Motor Manufacturing (TMM), USA Inc. is formed by Toyota Motor Corp (TMC) in 1985 by investing $800 million to build a Plant at Kentucky, USA which will starts production in 1988 of around 200,000 units of Camry Sedan car. The purpose of building a plant is to compete in US market in midsize car which is comprise of one third of total US car market. TMM producing the cars on the same philosophy, methodology and technology, which TMC used to produce cars at their best quality and lowest cost in Japan.

Prior to Toyota’s Production System, the company was efficient, yet could not compete with large American competitors such as General Motors and Ford. Therefore, management realized that if the company was to be successful not only in Japan, but globally it would need to improve its manufacturing process. Consequently, the company developed Toyota’s lean manufacturing process, which is still used today. The LMP was used to eliminate waste in the entire production process to become more responsive to market demand and produce high quality products economically. In order to provide superior products, Toyota implemented many revolutionary strategies. For example, the company started, or invented, the Just-in-Time Manufacturing process. The JIT process, according to our text, is used to reduce inventory costs by scheduling supplies to arrive just in time to enter the production process or as inventory stock is depleted (Hill et al., 2015). Toyota used the just-in-time system to improve its supply chain management, which drastically decreased costs and increased the company’s production facilities output as compared to its competitors. In addition to JIT, the company introduced a concept known as Kanban that was included within the new JIT system. The Kanban system was developed by Ohno and was used to arrange for components and/or assemblies manufactured at Toyota to be delivered to the assembly floor only when needed, not before (Hill et al., 2015). Essentially the Kanban

In the era of consumerism, abundance of essential products is critical to supply the high demands. This would have been very difficult without Henry Ford and his excellence in operating the assembly line. Assembly line is one of the most reliable and durable production techniques ever invented. In the 20th century, assembly line was amongst one of the most remarkable technological advancements. Nearly all the products that we use nowadays, we would not have it in the amount we need and at the prices we have it without the assembly line. The assembly line has played a major role in modifying the world and it is the main force behind every industry on earth. The use of assembly line in industries such as automotive, arms, and food has played a key role in supplying the world with essential products while minimizing the total cost. The operation of assembly line in various industries has assisted the world in providing crucial products that we need to make our lives easier.

ABSTRACT Assembly lines are considered to be the rocket fuel that launched the industrial revolution. Before them, every manufactured good was made by hand, component by component by highly skilled experienced workers. A skilled worker would be individually trained sometimes since childhood in a specific component of the product and after all the components were made, the final product could then be assembled. Therefore, the innovation of an assembly line not only cut down on the time of production but also raised revenue whilst lowering the sale cost. Henry Ford introduced the first single model conveyor belt assembly line in the United States in October 1913.

Throughout the 1920’s, while the economy was stable, there was quite a large unemployment rate. This allowed many individuals to come up with ways to provide for more jobs and make jobs more cost effective. One method of this was popularized by Henry Ford known as “mass production”. This being created in the 1910’s was brought to its best by henry ford creating more, easier, better-paying jobs for anyone. Mass Production techniques in industries and factories allowed larger numbers of products to be created more easily with less effort, better wages for employees, and cheaper retail costs. The most popular method of mass production was the efficient use of the Assembly Line, as used by Henry Ford and the production of the Model T automobile.

In the early stages of manufacturing quality and cost went hand-in-hand, if one went down so did the other but now quality is maintained at an excellent standard and cost is going down; engineers are racing to the bottom in price. This is achieved by the engineers that have created a system of work that is the assembly line, allowing for more affordability and profitable, and leading to innovation. By implementing the assembly line system of work, it requires simple tasks to be accomplished by multiple people at a constant pace, which results in cost efficient production. This system allows more product to be produced in a smaller period of time to meet the demand of the people, as the price is cheaper. However, profit is not changed

Mass production is a process in which large quantities of standard products are produced on production lines. It can also be called flow production, series production or serial production and uses conveyor belts to move ready made parts to workers to finish off the product. This type of machinery provided a very high rate of production but also reduced the amount of workers required to do the work. This resulted in a rapid loss of jobs being available in the workforce and workers finding it difficult to provide for

The immediate impact of the assembly line was revolutionary, which could be a turning point in history. During World War II, apply assembly line techniques in marine and aircraft production to meet the massive demand for military equipment on the US foreign construction. Many planes and tanks were manufactured by workers, including young people and women, has since the beginning of an assembly that each employee assigned a specific task. Every worker is repeated, and then the process moves to the next worker is his job until the job is done and the product is finished. It is a way for the mass production of goods quickly and efficiently.

The General Motor’s president, Alfred Sloan found out two critical issues that impeded his company to be succeeded in mass production and completed the mass production system based on Ford’s deficiency. Subsequently, Sloan resolved his firm’s problems step by step. Firstly, he established the decentralized divisions operated by some senior managers, who would share the profits with Sloan. Later, he created a product range from cheap to expensive that could satisfy most of buyers. From Sloan’s case, seniority seemed like a key to determine the workers, and it was also a basis for job assignments. Mass production became very popular in 1955 because many U.S. companies used Ford’s plant practices and Sloan’s management means to improve their productivity. At that time, the U.S. automobile industry led the world’s car manufacture with more than seven billion car were sold. The spread of mass production was not only in the United States, but also in Europe because many craft-production companies applied mass production for their products. However, the problems occurred, particularly, in the workforce. Workers figured out that the mass production work was unprofitable, and this caused the stagnant of mass products in the United States as well as Europe. This was the time for a new kind of production: “lean production”.

This synthesised, scientifically managed workflow was meant to improve labour productivity and economic efficiency. And thirdly, rather than having machinery at the centre of the factory and workers moving to and from the product, assembly lines were used. This meant that the workers remained stationary and the product simply flowed past them (Murray, 1989). They were essentially treated as robots and dictated by machines; operating to the duplicated, repetitive tasks daily and not given the opportunity to express potential for advancement or improvement.

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.

GM has developed an Enterprise Demand Sensing Research Program to investigate methodologies and drive a collaborative decision-making framework. The program aims to improve the decision-making of the enterprise in procurement, manufacturing, marketing, sales, and logistics (Truss, Wu, Saroop & Sehgal, 2006). To enhance enabling technologies, GM places considerable importance on internal communication. GM launched some major efforts to communicate throughout the organization. These included roundtable discussion groups, and the training of managers

Toyota today is one of the leading lean example in today’s manufacturing market. Starting back in the 1930’s with the idea of Just-in-Time to cut down cost in waste from overstocked storage rooms to a better efficient assembly lines who produced what was needed at a certain time. The Kanban system is one of the most used methods that the Japanese found during the 1950’s during a trip to United States in a super market.

Toyota also has a strong portfolio of prestigious brands such as Prius, Camry, Toyota, Lexus, Corolla, Land cruiser, Hilux and other brands. In fact, the annual Brands Top 100 ranked Toyota a leading brand. This strong branding and market position allows Toyota to market its product with premium prices and high profit margins.

This assignment gives the overview of the Toyota and Volkswagen. It also explains about their supply chain relationship of those manufacturers. It also gives the advantages and disadvantages of those companies. I have also compared the strategies of Toyota and Volkswagen. I have collected some details regarding the future scope and threats for both the manufacturers. I have given some general statistics of both the companies. Then I have given some future strategies of those concerns.