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... ere. ' And the improvements are, well, continuous. Total Quality Management all they way... The Secret that Spells Success With a market capitalization greater than the value of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler combined, Toyota is also, (by far), the world's most profitable automaker. Another of Toyota's secret weapon is Lean production -- the revolutionary approach to business processes that it invented in the 1950 's and has spent decades perfecting. Today businesses around the world are implementing Toyota's radical system for speeding up processes, reducing waste, and improving quality.
Toyota integrated TQM into lean production in 1960. Developed by Taichi Ohno, lean production aims to eliminate seven wastes or things that can go wrong, of which quality is one. Others include overproduction, waiting of any kind, and unnecessary motion of a worker. Lean production applies TQM to all seven wastes at the same time rather than tackling each problem individually, saving not only time but money and energy. Jeffrey K. Liker in his book, "The Toyota Way", explains Toyota's unique approach to Lean Manufacturing -- the 14 management principles and philosophy that drive Toyota's quality and efficiency-obsessed culture.
Professor Jeffrey Liker who has been studying Toyota for twenty years, and was given unprecedented access to Toyota executives, employees and factories, both in Japan and the United States, for this landmark work. The book is full of examples of the 14 fundamental principles at work in the Toyota culture, and how these principles create a culture of continuous learning and improvement. You " ll discover how the right combination of long-term philosophy, process, people, and problem solving has transformed Toyota Motor Corp. into a Lean, learning enterprise. Case Study Toyota in Kentucky: The Best Plant in America With the U. S.
new car market starting to slide, manufacturers are counting on every advantage they can muster to gain a competitive edge. There was a time when carmakers tended to ignore the impact of the assembly line, focusing on design, engineering or marketing. But they " ve come to realize that few things influence quality, reliability or cost as much as the plant in which a product is built. And when it comes to getting it right on the assembly line, nobody does it better than Toyota Motor Co. And no plant, in particular, does it as well as Toyota's sprawling operation in Georgetown, Ky. , which produces an array of products, including the midsize Camry, America's best-selling passenger car for three years running. Since 1990, the $ 4. 8 billion complex has pulled four Gold Plant Quality Awards-and a silver and two bronze medals-from J.
D. Power and Associates. The award honors the plant that turns out the highest quality, based on customer feedback. Georgetown also scores consistently at the top of the Harbour Report, an annual study by Harbour and Associates, a Detroit consulting firm closely tracking auto manufacturing. To get the production process right isn't easy, stresses Director Ron Harbour. It 'has to be part of the religion, a part of the fabric' of a successful automaker like Toyota.
Harbour ranks North American auto plants according to a wide range of criteria, including productivity, quality and cost. The latest report gives many manufacturers cause for celebration. Ford Motor Co. 's Atlanta operations, for example, lead in labor productivity. Nissan Motor Co. is tops in overall productivity. And Honda Motor Co.
is most efficient at stamping sheet metal. Not always number one While Georgetown snags a number of firsts in specific categories-such as powertrain production productivity-it doesn't always lead. It's a close third in terms of man-hours per vehicle, for example. It requires 17. 56 hours of labor for every car to roll off the line, compared to 17. 16 man-hours for the leader, Ford's Taurus plant in Atlanta. But for overall operations, Harbour says, few can come close to Toyota, and Georgetown, in particular.
The key to a successful manufacturing process, Harbour explains, is 'consistency and predictability, ' all hallmarks of the Toyota Production System. Initially developed in Japan, TPS was transplanted to the United States nearly two decades ago, when Toyota launched a joint venture with General Motors Corp. , called New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. , or NUMMI, based in Fremont, Calif. In 1985, Toyota announced plans to build an assembly line of its own in Georgetown, Ky. Repeatedly expanded since production began three years later, Georgetown assembles an array of products, including the Sienna minivan, the full-size Avalon, as well as the Camry. The quality of the products rolling out of the plant is a key factor in Camry's continued popularity, notes George Owens, manager of product research for California-based J. D.
Power & Associates. 'It's not enough just to be at the top, ' Owens says, 'but year-to-year, they maintain a pace that sets the standard for the industry. ' What is it that makes Georgetown so special? Mike Daprile, who manages the 1300 -acre complex, agrees consistency is a fundamental starting point. Until relatively recently, Toyota was unique among automakers, establishing a corporate-wide production process echoed at every plant it operated. Compared to older domestic plants, Toyota operations are clean and well lit, with wide aisles that make it easy to move man and machinery. But blindly transported from one Toyota plant to another, you'd likely find it hard to tell the difference. The goal of the TPS system is to standardize everything from hand tools to stamping presses.
The assembly operation itself is a by-the-numbers process. 'We don't belong to the book-of-the-month club, ' Daprile asserts. We start with a foundation and build on that foundation, year-after year. Our skill set gets better and more competent. ' Flexibility, on occasion TPS isn't inflexible. The concept of 'kaizen, ' or continuous improvement, is fundamental, and the Toyota Production System has evolved quite a bit since Toyota came to the U. S. 'One of the big differences between Japanese and American culture is that Americans are more independent and that creates more variables.
We try to keep the variables to a minimum, ' Daprile adds, yet the 7800 'team members' at Georgetown are encouraged to offer suggestions. And 'if a team member comes up with a better idea, 's ays Daprile, 'We incorporate it into the entire system. ' One of the more creative examples was suggested by a team member installing wiring harnesses. The process was tedious and difficult, involving a lot of bending, and created the potential for errors. The worker suggested using the power-operated seat from a bass boat, in which he could ride up-and-down while the car moved by. Toyota adopted the idea, improving ergonomics and reducing defects. Employees are an active part of the TPS process, empowered to make decisions previously unheard of on an assembly line. 'You don't hide your mistakes, ' Daprile explains, noting that if there's a problem, each team member is empowered to yank the so-called and cord, bringing the line to a halt until repairs can be made.
Another fundamental tenet, in which all Toyota employees are trained, is dubbed the 'Five Whys. ' It is not enough to understand there's a problem, goes the mantra-like philosophy. One must dig down, repeatedly asking 'why?' until you come up with the underlying answer. Daprile learned that first hand, soon after joining the company as a floor manager. Somehow, water had gotten mixed in with the transmission fluid in a machine used to fill automatic transaxle's. Why? Because a hose was leaking.
But if he had simply replaced the hose, the problem would have recurred because the ring of the hose was worn. Asking why, again and again, Daprile ultimately realized key specifications for the machine were wrong, and had to be corrected. It took four hours to troubleshoot, and the assembly line was down the entire time. When it started rolling again, Daprile was told to report to the plant manager. Figuring he would lose his job, Daprile stammered out an apology, but his Japanese boss cut him off and said, 'This is a good day, you have learned. ' Daprile got a promotion for his understanding of the Toyota Production System. The concepts behind TPS are slowly spreading.
Ford has adopted the and system in Atlanta. Both General Motors and the Chrysler side of DaimlerChrysler have developed corporate manufacturing systems. The newest GM factories, in Shanghai, Bangkok and Gliwice, Poland, are virtual clones, and generate some of the best numbers in the GM system. Of course, Harbour notes, it helps GM to have direct insight into the Toyota Production System through its ongoing NUMMI joint venture. Across the board, 'the gap (in manufacturing) is significantly narrower than it was five years ago, ' cautions Harbour. But it's not going to be easy to close the gap entirely.
Toyota may have a consistent manufacturing process, but it isn't afraid to evolve. The competition will have to work hard to catch up, thanks to Total Quality Management.
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Research essay sample on Total Quality Management Toyota Motor
