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Toyota Case Study Essay

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Ch. 8: Toyota's Production System: Life in the Fast Lane?
Overview: The Toyota Production System has long been hailed and admired as the source of Toyota’s outstanding performance as a manufacturer. TPS aims to eliminate waste, reduce defects and maximize flow. TPS aims to increase efficiency and productivity by employing a unique production system that cuts costs through continuous improvement. Long term goal is to yield sharp reductions in product development and manufacturing lead times. Toyota want to be the industry best and they stand behind their culture to share the wealth of how they do it. 1. What is the relationship between Toyota’s organizational strategy and Toyota Production System? TPS is viewed as the benchmark, the …show more content…

Toyota is making only "what is needed, when it is needed, and in the amount needed. Toyota is using impute from workers and their culture encourages employees to learn from their mistakes and successes and failures of each other. 5. Do you think the human relationship required for Toyota’s Production System are unique to Japan. No. Why or why not? I do not think TPS is unique to Japan. GM, Ford, and Chrysler have independently created major initiatives to develop Toyota-like production systems. Companies that have tried to adopt the system are diverse in the fields as diverse as aerospace, consumer products, metals processing, and industrial products. However, no one has managed to imitate Toyota successfully. I believe it’s because some believe it could be Japan’s culture. It is not, if that were so, Nissan and Honda would be drivers as well. The one key is Toyota’s factories are rigidly scripted, yet at the same time Toyota’s operations are enormously flexible and adaptable. That in itself is volume. That means if instructions on mounting a bolt for the installation of a seat states turn the screwdriver 10 times and you turn it nines the worker is not meeting the quality of work that has been tested and proven “expert”. For many leaders I would assume visiting the Georgetown plant they walk in and confuse the tools and practices they see on their plant visits with the system

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