Behind the Troubles at Toyota: The Engineering Management - Research Paper Example

Behind the Troubles at Toyota: The Engineering Management Perspective Engineering management plays a vital role in the large industries. Engineering management is a broad topic which is linked to the success of many organizations. Toyota is a well known car manufacturer whose aim is to stay among the top market players in the car industry. Engineering management helps such big organizations in designing building and assembling the parts which need to manufacture their final product i.e. a car in case of Toyota.

Engineering management refers not only to the design and manufacturing of a product but also to assess, analyze and amend the problems that are encountered. The article in view is the case of Toyota cars which had lost its market share due to poor management and quality of some parts of its new cars. This article is, somehow, a criticism on Toyota’s poor management techniques. The article focuses on the case that Toyota has encountered recently. It has been accused of making faulty brakes and uncontrolled acceleration in the cars.

Toyota is a role model for the car manufacturers and has always been appraised for the performance and quality of its cars. This problem that has been criticized by many has put Toyota’s success to deadlock. Complaints, criticisms and loss of goodwill due to these faulty parts have affected their overall sales and profitability. The most important factor that is being focused by the writer is the management issue of Toyota when it was acknowledged about the manufacturing faults. The Toyota management did not take any action on the engineering grounds but instead placed the burden of responsibility on the consumers.

The engineering faults were overlooked for a few years and this further worsened the problem. The article hence focuses on the adverse effects that arose as a result of poor engineering management by Toyota. The unintended acceleration in Toyota cars caused 819 crashes and 26 deaths as reported in the article. If Toyota would have dealt with the engineering and design faults before launching the cars, it would have been at a far higher position today. The unusual acceleration and brake issues caused much trouble to Toyota’s overall position in the market.

However, this was not the end of its business cycle. Toyota’s management realized the issue and initiated steps to move back to its position. Proper engineering management would have helped Toyota realize such problems beforehand and helped in customer satisfaction and greater goodwill. Toyota’s weak engineering management can be observed by the blame it had put on the floor mats rather than checking the accelerator pedals which were causing the issues. The article tends to reveal that Toyota’s success was threatened due to poor management.

Hence, this article emphasizes on the importance of engineering management in large companies like Toyota. Proper engineering management leads to greater probability of success and consumer satisfaction. Engineering management is important for the goodwill of car manufacturing companies because mechanical problems in the cars may lead to severe accidents and injuries which, of course, cause a great harm to the businesses like Toyota. Reference: Saporito, Bill, Michael Schuman, and Joseph Szczesny.

"Behind the Troubles at Toyota." Time 11 Feb. 2010: Web. 22 Sep 2010. .