Quality Philosophies of Toyota Motor Corporation - Case Study Example

Quality Philosophies: Toyota Motor Corporation Name Instructor Course Date Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………..3 Concept of Quality……………………………………………………………………………...3 Analysis of Toyota Motors’ Quality Philosophies……………………………………….…….5 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………...7 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………………….9 Introduction Toyota is Japanese automaker founded in 1937 by Kiichiro Toyoda. Based in Toyota, Aichi, the company has recorded immense growth since it was founded to become one of the world’s leading automaker (Liker and Meier 5). As at the end of 2016, Toyota was ranked the second-largest automaker in the world after the German Volkswagen. In Japan, Toyota is the largest listed firm in terms of market capitalization and by revenue as of 2014. The company produces vehicles under five brands namely Hino, Ranz, Lexus, Toyota, and Dainhatsu (Liker 3). Toyota also has stake in Subaru Corporation and Isuzu. The main products of the automaker include the manufacture of luxury and commercial vehicles, engines and spare parts. Currently, Toyota serves the entire world, where it employs close to 350,000 people. Toyota has maintained good performance despite the stiff competition it faces from the emerging and existing competitors. Some of its main challengers include Volkswagen, General Motors, Ford, Honda, Land Rover-Jaguar and Nissan among others (Liker 9). Although Toyotas many years of success is linked to a variety of factors, quality is one of the major factors that have been responsible for its good performance. Since the company was founded, it has demonstrated strong commitment to quality improvements and this has ensured that it meets the needs of the customers in the market all the time by being able to respond to their changing needs and preferences through quality improvements. This report explains Toyota’s quality philosophies and how they have been communicated to the employees of the company. Concept of Quality Quality concept is at the core of effective management and leadership. It is noted that quality is one of the most important factors that customers consider when making buying decisions. For this reasons, companies that hopes to succeed must ensure that quality becomes part of everything that a company does. Evans defines as the ability of a product of service to meet the expectations of the stakeholders of a company with the products and services provided (12). For instance, for a customer, quality can mean producing products or offering services that meet their expectations in terms of features, attributes, designs and functionality. Edwards Deming is one of the management gurus whose philosophies on quality have had far and wide effects on management. Deming observed that, by improving quality, firms stand the opportunity to minimize the expenses incurred, realize increased productivity and market share (Aguayo 15). In this respect, Deming believed that, in order for a company to succeed and grow, it must embrace quality improvements as this helps reduce costs. According to Deming, quality improvements helps minimize costs by ensuring a reduction of wastes in the production process, reduced litigation and staff attrition while at the same time increases customer loyalty (Evans, and Lindsay 92). In other words, the key message for Deming was that companies need to practice quality improvements and to see production processes as a seamless whole instead of systems composed of congruent parts. Proponents of Deming’s have summarized Deming’s philosophy into two parts that acts as lessons to managers with regards to quality management. First, companies’ primary focus should be on quality defined as effort/total costs. In the event that this occurred, the end result is improved quality and reduced cost over time. Second is that if a company’s primary focus is on costs, the end result would be an increase in cost and a decline in quality over time (McCormick 221) Philip Crosby is the other management guru whose philosophy on quality management has had far-reaching effects on organizations. According to Crosby, the answer to quality is doing it right the first time (McCormick 225). In this respect, Crosby believed that the only way to prevent quality crisis is for a company to endeavor to do it right the first time (Deming 6). In line with this, Crosby defined quality as conformance to customer requirements in all aspects. Crosby also suggested that, to achieve high quality, firms must strive to ensure that there are zero defects (McCormick 225). To achieve zero defects, Crosby recommends organizational commitments and ensuring close supervision of production processes to ensure that errors are avoided. Additionally, Crosby argued that zero defects need to be viewed just as a manufacturing principle, but also as a philosophy that influence every decisions that a company make (Evans, and Lindsay 66). Joseph Juran is the other management guru whose ideas have contributed immensely to quality management. Unlike Deming who advocated that businesses should focus on quality of the end product, Juran focused mainly on the human dimension of quality management stressing on the importance of equipping managers with the right skills through training and education (Fryman 14). In his view, quality issues arise from a combination of human relations problems and resistance to change. Juran came up with three steps to achieving quality standards that include promoting quality improvements in a structured regular basis and making it an urgent need (Stephens 43). Second is building extensive training program and finally promoting commitment of top leadership and management to quality (Stephens 51). Analysis of Toyota Motors’ Quality Philosophies Toyota is world’s second-largest automaker today after the German Volkswagen. The company has also built a strong reputation globally through the production of quality luxury and commercial vehicles in all the nations around the globe. Toyota has achieved this through its approach to quality control and quality assurance. Toyota’s quality management is based on a number of philosophies that has ensured that the company built reputation and gains a competitive age over rivals in the auto industry. First, Toyota follows the Kaizen quality philosophy. Kaizen is a Japanese word that translates to ‘good change’ or constant continuous improvements (Toyota par. 2). Like other Japanese companies, Toyota follows the Kaizen philosophy that involves striving to ensure that the company maintains continuous quality improvements through its production system. Under Kaizen philosophy, errors are not allowed to occur in the first place as any error to the company is seen as a cost. For this reason, the company promotes high quality control by giving employees the powers to ensure that errors do not occur in the production process (Toyota-UK par. 8). In fact, at Toyota, employees are rewarded for preventing errors from occurring. It is noted that, line worker at Toyota do not have to wait for approval of the supervisor or foreman to stop production process where they feel that errors or defects have occurred. Errors are stopped by any employee who notices them first even if it was not their job. In other words, the company promoted the better work goal throughout the company. Additionally, as a company that follows the Kaizen principle, Toyota strives for improvement in the quality of its products. One of the key tenets of Kaizen is innovation. Today, Toyota is one of the most innovative automakers in the world because of its philosophy of Kaizen. In this respect, the company is constantly in search for better products and services that meets the needs of its customers all the time. Because the needs of customers keep changing due to constant changes in tastes and preferences, Toyota ensures that better products and services that meet customer needs are developed through innovation and constant improvements to the product features, design and efficiency (Liker 71). For instance, through constant improvements to its vehicles, Toyota has been able to developing better performing vehicles in terms of fuel efficiency, speed and stability. According to the company’s CEO, Toyota do not wait for customers to pint errors or defects; instead, the company ensures that there is constant improvement to the products and this has ensured that its vehicles comes to the market error-free, thus ensuring that the needs of customers are met. Toyota’s Kaizen philosophy is supported by Deming’s quality philosophy, as Deming suggests that companies need to practice quality improvements and to see production processes as a seamless whole instead of systems composed of congruent parts (Fryman 15). Additionally, Deming observed that quality improvements helps minimize costs by ensuring a reduction of wastes in the production process, reduced litigation and staff attrition while at the same time increases customer loyalty (Fryman 17). This is true of Toyota that has managed to reduce costs in the manufacturing, staff attrition and litigation by ensuring that there are constant quality improvements in the company. It is interesting to note that Toyota strives to pass the Kaizen philosophy to all its supplies and partners so as to ensure that quality is not only promoted in its production process, but also that quality begins from the supply chain system. In this respect, Toyota encourages its suppliers to ensure that they not only supply the company with quality raw materials, but that they maintain constant improvements to the quality of the raw materials they supply so as to always satisfy the changing needs of customers in the market (Toyota par. 12). In addition to Kaizen that focuses on quality improvements, Toyota quality management is also based on “jidoka’ philosophy. Jidoka is a production system that means that implies equipping all machines and empowering all employees to stop production process as soon as a defect or abnormally is spotted (Liker and Meier 12). Toyota believes that defects must be prevented at all cost to achieve quality from the production process. To achieve this, the Japanese automaker follows jidoka philosophy by ensuring that, at any time a defect or abnormal condition is spotted through close monitoring, the machines automakers cease to operate and operators are required to stop work immediately to correct the problem noted instead of just continue with production (Toyota-UK par. 6). This is supported by Crosby who suggested that close monitoring of production processes is important is achieving quality standards desired because it ensures that errors are avoided and that zero defects is achieved in the final product (McCormick 226). Therefore, by following jidoka quality principle, Toyota has been able to produce consistently high-quality vehicles at each production process and to separate machines from men, thus achieving more efficient ways of doing work. Additionally, under the jidoka principle, Toyota employees are empowered to take control of the manufacturing process and are free to halt production line whenever they feel that something has gone wrong that might prove costly to the company if allowed to form part of the final product (Liker and Meier 27). Toyota also follows the just-in-time quality philosophy (Monden 24). In fact, the philosophy of just-in-time is believed to have been coined by one of Toyota engineers and this philosophy has since been cultivated into the company and made part of the production system. Under the just-in-time philosophy, Toyota’s entire production process is regulated by natural demand and supply laws. In the regard, Toyota’s vehicle production is stimulated by customer demand (Monden 31). In turn, the manufacturing and delivery of the parts needed is stimulated by vehicle production. This philosophy enables Toyota deliver quality vehicles as it ensures that the right parts and materials are used in the manufacture of vehicles are provide in the right number, when and where they are needed. By adopting the just-in-time principle, Toyota has been able to minimize the waste as production is done in direct response to customer demand. Additionally, believes in team work as a means of achieving quality. At Toyota, production system begins through consensus building in what is called Nemawashi. Toyota believes that great products are developed through team work. For this reason, to satisfy customer needs, Toyota includes all the members of its staff in quality control operations. (Liker 62). In this respect, the company ensures that everyone from manufacturing research and development, assembling, retailing and servicing have their input in the quality control processes. Each member of the company has two roles to play as far as quality is concerned which include performing their own jobs and ensuring quality assurance in what the company calls “Companywide quality control” (Toyota-UK par. 4). The involvement of every member in the production process ensures that only the best work is moved to the next process. Toyota also ensures that there is strict adherence to standardized work practices as this helps the automaker achieve stability in quality as well as helping Toyota to spot problems and abnormities which may occur in the production process. Conclusion Toyota is a reputed brand with several decades of success. Currently, Toyota is the second-largest automaker in the work in terms of production and market share. The company’s many years of success is attributed to its production of high quality luxury and commercial cars in all the nations across the globe. The company has achieved this through its approach to quality assurance and control. In line with management gurus, Deming, Crosby and Juran, Toyota has adopted effective quality management philosophies that include Kaizen, jidoka, just-in-time and Nemawashi. Adopting these quality philosophies has ensure that Toyota delivers consistently high-quality vehicles to its esteemed customers. Accordingly, this has facilitated the growth of the automaker and its success globally. Works Cited Aguayo, Rafael. Dr. Deming: The American Who Taught the Japanese About Quality. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1991. Print. Deming, William E. Out of the Crisis. Oxford, NY: MIT Press, 2000. Print. Evans, James R. Quality & Performance Excellence. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning, 2013. Print. Evans, James R. and William M. Lindsay. Managing for Quality and Performance Excellence. Cambridge: Cengage Learning, 2016. Print. Fryman, Mark A. Quality and Process Improvement. London: Cengage Learning, 2002. Print. Liker, Jeffrey K. The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Professional, 2003. Print. Liker, Jeffrey K. and David Meier. The Toyota Way Fieldbook. Chicago, ILL: McGraw Hill Professional, 2005. Print. McCormick, Kate. Quality. New York, NY: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2002. Print. Monden, Yasuhiro. Toyota Production System: An Integrated Approach to Just-In-Time, 4th Edition. London: CRC Press, 2011. Print. Stephens, Kenneth S. Juran, Quality, and a Century of Improvement. Thousand Oaks: ASQ Quality Press, 2005. Print. Toyota. “Toyota Production System.” Web. 3 May 2017 http://www.toyota.com.au/toyota/company/operations/toyota-production-system Toyota-UK. “Kaizen – Toyota Production System guide.” May 31 2013. Web. 3 May 2017 http://blog.toyota.co.uk/kaizen-toyota-production-system Read More