LEAN MANAGEMENT IN TOYOTA MOTORS

Lean Management in Toyota Motors

Lean Management in Toyota Motors

Introduction

Toyota is a Japanese multinational company, founded in 1933 by Kiichiro Toyoda. In the year 1980, Toyota first caught the attention of the world, when it came in to existence there was something special about Japanese efficiency and quality. Japanese cars lasted longer than American cars and require fewer repairs.

The Lean methods were designed to reduce waste, maximize value, and decrease variation and complexity throughout an organization and its supply-chain. Lean production has transformed manufacturing and its application has made a significant impact both in academic and industrial circles over the last three decades. It has also been known by various other names like Toyota Production system, just in time, Pull manufacturing, TQM (Total Quality Management). But the definition of Lean has become more and more refined with the passage of time. Lean is the westernization of a Japanese concept that has several names. It is widely known as the Toyota Production System, JIT (Just-in-Time Inventory), Pull manufacturing, TQM (Total Quality Management), and by various other names. Each of these names incorporates some aspects of lean, and vice versa. The production system of Toyota has effectively utilized lean principles to improve the performance of the organization in a significant manner.. These principles of lean production have been effective and efficient for all types of organizations, which include manufacturing, distribution, service and the transportation industries.

Background Information

After the WWII (World War II) companies were facing fierce competition imposed by mass production systems of American companies. The companies of Japan were especially facing this problem because of lack of natural resources, which made it necessary for them to import vast amounts of raw materials from other parts of the world. Thus, Japanese companies where under tremendous pressure condition in terms of cost of raw materials as compared to their counterparts companies of European and American (Shah and Ward, 2003, 149). This forced them to think somewhat different from the rest of the world if indeed they want to sustain in this fierce competition. The only solution that Japanese industries find in order to overcome this problem is by putting their best efforts in order to produce better quality goods having higher added value. and at even lower production cost as compared to other countries. This led The Toyota Motor Company (TMC) made a thorough study of the production system of the American automobile industry and in particular Ford now also known as (the Ford Production System, FPS) (MacDuffie, 1995, 220).

Customers of Toyota Motors

Toyota Motors targets middle class people. It has an opportunity to target the youth around the world (Swank, 2003, 57).

Product and Services

The Japanese multinational company Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world. It produces one of the most popular brands of imported cars in the United States. Toyota introduced the first mass-produced gas/electric hybrid car (the Prius) in 2000, and continues to be an innovation leader in developing energy efficient and alternate fuel vehicles ...