Quality of Toyota Motor Corporation - Coursework Example

Quality Table of Contents 0Introduction 3 2.0An Evaluation of Quality, Quality Assurance or Operational Process of Toyota 4 3.0Conclusion 8 4.0Recommendation 9 5.0 References 10 6.0 Appendix 12 6.1 Organisational Culture of Toyota 12 1.0 Introduction Quality has emerged to be one of the imperative aspects in the modern day business environment. It is often considered to be a systematic procedure which involves the monitoring of the entire process of production and other activities of the organisations so that any sort of errors can be prevented and high quality products can be delivered. It has been apparently observed that there pertain three particular steps through which quality assurance can be implemented. They include documentation along with measurement, evaluation and conformity. In the first step relating to documentation as well as measurement, all the key variables of quality assessment are depicted elaborately. In the next step concerning evaluation, all factors related to product or service quality of the companies are depicted and based upon this, the quality of the products is assured. In the last step i.e. conformity, reports regarding the quality of the products or services are to be collected and responses of the common people in relation to this aspect are evaluated (Eurostat, 2009). Toyota Motor Corporation is regarded as one of the biggest and the most well-known automobile companies throughout the globe. The official headquarter of the company is located in the region of Japan. It has been noted that the company employs thousands of people for conducting its different operational functions all over the globe. It was established around 75 years ago and since then it has maintained a strong reputation in the worldwide business market. The company has its operations in many parts of the world and is known to come up with products which are of high quality (Toyota, 2013). With these considerations, the paper intends to review quality or quality assurance process that is being applied by Toyota. In this regard, the quality concept of Lean will be considered that is broadly used by Toyota. 2.0 An Evaluation of Quality, Quality Assurance or Operational Process of Toyota Toyota has gained the reputation of being regarded as a company which produces superior quality automotive products. The company duly considers quality as one of its key constituents in its manufacturing process. In relation to ensuring that utmost quality can be rendered to the customers, the company provides greater significance towards understanding customer requirements. This in turn enables it to ensure long-term customer satisfaction. It possesses a separate set of employees who provide special attention to produce and preserve quality products at every stage of the manufacturing process. To achieve high quality products, the company has been noted to follow effective business or operational strategies in terms of instructing every member of the organisation to ensure that only the best products should arrive at the subsequent stage of the production process. It implements advanced technologies that enable it to detect different sorts of operational problems while manufacturing products. The production system of the company is equipped with a technology called Pokayoke which automatically detects any kind of errors that appear in the production process. For instance, if any part of the product is not in accordance with its usual pattern then the production process will automatically stop and there would be a signal depicting the error. It is the maintenance section of the company which recognises the errors. This makes the entire process of quality control quite systematic with less chances of generating any sort of errors. It has been further noticed that each and every member of the quality maintenance team of the company is highly responsible and intends to refrain from passing any defective product to the next level of production. Furthermore, the company has also been viewed to execute a cord called the ‘Andon cord’ which is connected to the entire production process. If anything is found unusual in any part of the product, only a pull of the Andon cord would stop the entire production line. It can be affirmed that the employees of the company are specially trained in order to deal with any sort of difficulties concerning quality which might arise while manufacturing products (Toyota, n.d.). Additionally, in relation to understanding the continued focus of Toyota towards ensuring sustained quality offerings, the aspect of its compliance with the set international guidelines need to be determined. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is the worldwide federation which deals with the development of manufacturing standards throughout the globe. ISO 9000 is one of the series of standards that has been designed to provide quality assurance guidelines and requirements. There are different standards that are involved in this series, out of which companies need to select a particular standard that would be pertinent with its overall business operations. Similarly, ISO 14000 is regarded as the other series of the standards that provides guidelines for effective management of the environmental impacts while performing different operational functions (Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors National Association, 2013). It has been apparently observed that in this similar concern that Toyota implements the ISO 9000 guidelines in its business operations. However, the company has ascertained that the quality of its products is much higher than what is required in accordance with the ISO 9000 series. For this reason, it has discontinued the use of this framework after a certain time period. The company had found that ISO 9000 certificate is of no value to it because its products’ quality is far higher than what was actually required for obtaining the certificate (Poksinska, n.d.). It has been viewed that Toyota is also quite responsible towards serving its best efforts to the environment along with the society. The company makes sure that it causes less harm to the society and the environment by effectively handling its various business operations by maintaining the operational standards. In this regard, the company seeks to direct all its suppliers to possess ISO 14000 certificate before it would buy any kind of materials from them. This shows the commitment of the company towards serving its best efforts particularly to the society as well as the environment (Peter, 2009). In relation to ensuring the operational efficiency, Toyota has over the years developed and strictly followed certain quality control models in its operations. A few of the models linked with quality control include Six Sigma, Lean and Just-In-Time technology (JIT). Amongst these, it has been viewed that Toyota implements the lean production system which is quite effective in maintaining better quality of products. Lean manufacturing is a production process that initially developed by Toyota itself. It has been analysed that lean is a manufacturing process in which companies mainly aim to produce good quality products in order to achieve maximum customer satisfaction. This production system enables faster delivery of the products along with ensuring better quality (Wisner, 2011). Lean is a manufacturing process that automatically stops the process of production whenever there is a scope of occurrence of any sort of errors (SAE International, 2013). One of the major reasons for the implementation of lean manufacturing in Toyota is to increase the productivity of the company along with ascertaining the deliverance of high quality products to the customers. It has been apparently observed that in accordance with the lean manufacturing process of Toyota, the company hires highly trained employees in every stage of the production process. This practice eventually enables the company to reduce maximum amount of errors which leads to the production of large amount of goods with improved quality. It has been further noted that the main aim of lean manufacturing is not to operate with high quality machines or software, but to mainly emphasize upon the people who act as the main assets of any company. Lean manufacturing process of Toyota mainly seeks for constructing impressive decisions and forming a dynamic organisational culture where employees can provide their full participation concerning the deliverance of quality products so that maximum extent of customer satisfaction can be attained (Daft, 2009). However, lean manufacturing process also has its own negative aspects which cannot be ignored. It can be stated relating to the business operations of Toyota that a defect in a single stage of the manufacturing process or in a single part of the product will force the company to halt the sales of its other models of vehicles (Wakabayashi, 2010). Moreover, it has also been learnt that the process is very much dependent upon the suppliers and the employees. Thus, in case, where there exist any issue between the company and its employees or suppliers then it is anticipated that the entire production process of the company will get affected influencing the overall performance of the company by a significant level (Feld, 2001). 3.0 Conclusion From the overall analysis of the paper, it can be summarised that quality is regarded to be the critical aspect that companies need to consider quite seriously in their manufacturing process. Better quality of products would ultimately enhance the reputation of any company in the global arena. It has been apparently observed that in order to deliver high quality products to the customers, companies need to minimise their errors and implement effective quality control measures. In this regard, the example of Toyota is appropriate. The company implements the notion of lean manufacturing process which helps it to increase its productivity as well as quality at large. Although such process has its own set of disadvantages that should not be overlooked. Overall, it can be concluded that quality is one of the vital aspects which plays a major role in deciding the fate of any company. 4.0 Recommendation Companies all over the world will have to be more active towards preserving short, medium and long-term quality of the products by a greater level. In this regard, the following activities might facilitate Toyota to maintain the production of quality products and enhance its quality assurance or operational procedure by a significant level. Action How Sensible Measurable Achievable Realistic Timed Analyse quality of the final product (Short Term) With the help of effective employees. Company can ensure product quality before it is delivered. Through Customer response. With proper management of the employees Reasonable cost Within 5 days from manufacturing. Analyse the quality of the product while production (medium term) With the help of effective members in the manufacturing unit. Company can ensure quality of the product from the manufacturing stage. Through customer response. With the help of effective members in the manufacturing unit. Reasonable cost While manufacturing. Implementation of advanced technology to ensure quality in every stage of production (Long term) Through trained employees. Maximum quality assurance of the product. Through customer satisfaction. With the help of effective and trained employees. Reasonable cost Every stage of production. 5.0 References Daft, R., 2009. Organization Theory and Design. Cengage Learning. Eurostat, 2009. Guidelines for the Implementation of Quality Assurance Frameworks for International and Supranational Organizations Compiling Statistics. Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities and Statistical Office of the European Communities, pp. 1-25. Feld, W. M., 2001. Lean Manufacturing: Tools, Techniques, and How to Use Them, Parts 2-4. CRC Press. Poksinska, B., No Date. ISO 9000 Is Not An Economic Disease. Lund University, pp. 1-9. Peter, S., 2009. Understanding Business Ethics. Pearson Education India. Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors National Association, 2013. ISO 9000 and ISO 14000. Home. [Online] Available at: http://www.smacna.org/management/ISO914.htm [Accessed May 04, 2013]. SAE International, 2013. Lean Manufacturing and the Toyota Production System. Home. [Online] Available at: http://www.sae.org/manufacturing/lean/column/leanjun01.htm [Accessed May 04, 2013]. Toyota, No Date. Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd. Home. [Online] Available at: http://www.toyotauk.com/media/Our-approach-to-quality.pdf [Accessed May 04, 2013]. Toyota, 2013. History of Toyota. Home. [Online] Available at: http://www.toyotabharat.com/inen/about/history.aspx [Accessed May 04, 2013]. Toyota Motor Europe, 2010. Our People. Society. Wisner, J. D., 2011. Principles of Supply Chain Management: A Balanced Approach. Cengage Learning. Wakabayashi, D., 2010. How Lean Manufacturing Can Backfire. The Wall Street Journal. [Online] Available at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704343104575032910217257240.html [Accessed May 04, 2013]. 6.0 Appendix 6.1 Organisational Culture of Toyota Source: (Toyota Motor Europe, 2010) Read More