Globalization Strategies of Toyota - Essay Example

Toyota, a Japanese automobile manufacturer having headquarters in Toyota, Japan was founded in 1937. It started its production operations in America in the year 1957. For more than fifty years, Toyota automobiles have continuously expanded their operations in 170 countries and regions throughout the world. Today, it has a presence in the major markets of North America, Europe, and Asia. With the development of its exports, the firm has started to localize its production bases, keeping pace with the policy of "producing vehicles where the demand exists". Presently they have 51 production bases in around 26 different regions globally (toyota-global.com). Moreover, there are R&D and design bases in almost nine locations in the foreign market, exhibiting that "from development and design to production, as well as sales and service, Toyota has now achieved consistent globalization and localization".

The company has gone through several hurdles while globalizing its production units. One of the most important factors of this process is quality assurance, which emphasizes on the statement, “no matter where Toyota vehicles are made, they must have the same high level of quality." The company doesn’t follow the policy of putting a "Made in The USA" or "Made in Japan" tag on their products. Instead, they prefer to put the label "Made by TOYOTA” on all their vehicles. This clearly defines the company’s manufacturing philosophy which is the "Toyota Way" and they like to advertise themselves in this manner throughout the world. The firm believes that through educating people they will be able to achieve quality assurance. Therefore they established the Global Production Center (GPC) in 2003 inside the Motomachi Plant in Toyota City. In addition to this, Toyota commenced regional Global Production Centers in 2006, in the United Kingdom, Thailand, and the United States to perform its respective activities in the Asia-Pacific, North American, and European regions.

The production process of the company is based on two main principles which are continuous improvement and respecting the employees. Toyota's production system is a means of "making things" which is often known as a "lean manufacturing system" or a "Just-in-Time (JIT) system”. The production system has been set up based on constant improvements, with the aim of "making the vehicles ordered by customers most quickly and efficiently, to deliver the vehicles as quickly as possible." 
The company’s production process is based on two models:
- "Jidoka" refers to mechanization along with some human touch. It implies whenever an issue arises, the apparatus stops instantly that preventing defective production.
- "Just-in-Time” concept where every process makes the particular part that will be required by the next process and in this way the production flows.

Based on these two concepts, Toyota globally produces exactly whatever is in demand within time and a cost-effective manner.

The main objective of Toyota is to offer world-class quality and to meet the customer’s demands. It also aims at being a model for performing corporate social responsibilities and therefore it came up with the first eco-friendly car in the world by using polyurethane foam made from soy-oil base for the seats of the vehicles (webpage.pace.edu). The company’s production system has four objectives:
- Providing excellent quality and service to its consumers.
- Developing the potential of every employee based on mutual trust and cooperation.
- Reducing the cost of production through the waste elimination process.
- Developing supple production standards based on market demand.