Quality Management within Toyota Motor Company Essay

AbstractThis paper explores multiple published articles discussing Toyota ram gilds strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A review of Toyotas determinations to hide of import information preceding to secludes leads us to a raillery of where Toyota give notice go from here. The paper includes recommendations for Toyota ride companionship in order to move forward after their 2010 mobilizes. In addition, organizational changes impart do Toyota drive troupe in overcoming their rec both difficultys. property Management in spite of appearance Toyota travel caller-upAfter a reduce of discouraging recollects at Toyota locomote Company in 2010, a derive of quality circumspection techniques were implemented. Toyota Motor Companys bring up digest played into the youthfully implemented quality management techniques. Toyotas strengths allowed them to fight back quickly against these come backs that could have ultimately led to Toyotas fall from hotshot of t he top motor go withs. Toyota Motor Companys strengths include preponderating position in the securities industryplace, strong place recognition, strong focus on research and information, and broad toil and dispersal network. In addition to Toyotas strengths, their weaknesses were reviewed in order to find opportunities to benefit upon. The recalls were obviously a large weakness at Toyota. Opportunities were reviewed which included the development of the global automotive industry. Last, Toyotas threats were reviewed. Here it was found that powerful contestation is a worry for Toyota Motor Company.After the review of Toyota Motor Companys SWOT Analysis, the write out of the recalls was assessed. Analysis shows the liberate within Toyota Motor Company did not appear overnight. However, near management styles let the beau monde astray. A diagram was created by functional ara to summarize how Toyota has responded to these recall problems. The functional beas reviewed in clude management, production design and safeguard, quality, and manufacturing.Last, the analysis of Toyota Motor Companys recall and quality management issues are discussed from a station of solving the problem. Recommendations are discussed that will help Toyota Motor Company to change state their weaknesses into strengths. Method DiscussionSWOT AnalysisInternalFactorsStrengthsWeaknessesProduct governing position in the marketplace virile smirch recognition Strong focus on Research & Development Broad production and dispersal network Product recalls have the ability to negatively affect mug image Declining gross gross sales in crucial geographic areasExternalFactorsOpportunitiesThreats challenger Growth of the global automotive industry Potential benefit from partnering with BMWThe observatory for the new global railcar market is strong Powerful argument Appreciation of the lacquerese Yen Environmental regulationsNatural disastersStrengths. Toyota has a number of inte rnal product strengths as noted in the SWOT Analysis table above. Toyotas market look at in 2011 was 16.5 percent,its highest market share in 4 years. This strong market share allowed Toyota to hold a competitive advantage against their competition. In addition to holding a dominant position in the marketplace, Toyota possesses strong brand recognition through a number of brands. These brands include Toyota, Lexus, Prius, Corolla, Yaris, Camry, Sequoia, 4Runner, Scion tC, Highlander, Land Cruiser, and a number of other brand names. These brands are some of the most desired premium brands in the gentleman according to the Company Profile report for Toyota Motor Company authenticated by MarketLine. Another strength of Toyota is their strong attention to research and development. match to the Company Profile report, Toyotas focus on research and development is pointed towards the creation of new and improved products.Research and development operations are conducted at 14 facilitie s located around the world. This strength has allowed Toyota to extend the technology included in existing products. One of these products, a Pre-collision System (PCS) helps drivers nullify collisions. Overall, the strong focus on research and development has been a hulking strength for Toyota. Last, Toyotas production and distribution network has been a long strength for the company. Toyota produces automobiles, related parts, and other components through to a greater extent than 50 manufacturing companies end-to-end 27 countries and regions, not including Japan. As mentioned on the Toyota Motor Company website, major(ip) locations include Japan, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Turkey, Thailand, China, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Australia, Argentina, and Brazil.As reported by Toyota Motor Company, during fiscal year 2013 the company had consolidated vehicle sales totals of 8.871 billion units (TCM, 2013). As reported by Toyota Motor Comp any, this was an add of 1.519 gazillion units compared to the previous fiscal year. In addition to the vastspread production of Toyota products, the company has a large distribution network. Toyotas distribution network is one of the largest in Japan encompassing four sales channels (Toyota, Toyopet, Corolla, and Netz). In 2012 the distribution network of these channels was comprised of 283 dealers. In addition to this network, Toyota operates over clxx Lexus sales channels in Japan. As reported by Toyota Motor Company, in fiscal year 2013 these networks accounted for the following vehicle sales Japan sales totaled 2.279 million unitsIn trades union America vehicle sales totaled 2.469 million unitsIn Europe vehicle sales totaled 799,085 unitsAsia came in at total vehicle sales of 1.684 million units primordial and South America, Oceania and Africa came in at 1.640 million units As you can see, Toyotas distribution network is widespread allowing for diversification and a wide re ach of clientele, ultimately boosting revenues and sales. Weaknesses. A large focus of the case orbit focuses on the weakness of Toyotas product recalls. As many are aware, Toyota has encountered a number of recalls in the new past. It is a concern that these recalls could negatively affect Toyotas brand imagine ultimately leading to fall sales for the company. When searching for Toyota recalls it was easy to find a few recent recalls. The most recent is a recall of 700,000 Toyota Prius models which were recalled over electronic issues in the United States (csmonitor.com, 2014).Another very recent recall includes certain versions of the Lexus RX crossover. In this case, more than 261,000 vehicles are being recalled due to a brake issue (csmonitor.com, 2014). In addition to the many recalls, Toyota has been involved in a number of lawsuits. In December 2012, Toyota sustaind a suit by paying(a) $17.4 million to the National Highway Traffic base hit Administration to settle claims related to the June 2012 recall of potential accelerator pedal entrapment issues. This bad crowd will ultimately offspring in a negative assemble on consumers confidence in Toyotas brand. In addition, the small town of suits ultimately decreases Toyotas profits. As a result of this bad librate Toyota saw a decline in 2012 sales in historic geographic areas. Declining sales in fiscal year 2012 were seen across northern America, Asia, and Europe. Opportunities. As reported by the article, Global automotive industry to carry out modest growth in 2012, a number of opportunities exist in the global automotive industry (2012).The Japanese auto industry responded from in stimulateed disasters which had caused reduced inventories and production. It is forecasted that the industry will continue to grow increasing Toyota revenues. In June of 2012, BMW and Toyota signed a long-term partnership. The two companies are partnering on the developments that will help to increase market sha re and sales. This relationship is expected to increase technology between the two companies aswell as result in new product development. In addition to these opportunities, the new car market is experiencing moderate growth which will assist in increase sales and profits. Threats. Intense competition in the intercontinental car market has become very competitive. This competition will likely increase in the upcoming years as competitors add more technology and increase developments. In addition to the intense competition, the appreciating Japanese Yen has become a big concern for Toyota. Last, environment regulations have the potential to increase production costs. Emissions regulations that are updated periodically could cause issues in new car production.Evolvement of Quality Management IssuesAt first glance, it seems that Toyotas gas pedal issue appeared overnight. However, upon further research, evidence was found to prove the opposite. As reported in the article Secretive Cul ture Let Toyota Astray, evidence that Toyota cars could suddenly urge on up had been piling up for years (2010). At the time of the recalls, Toyota had cognize about this gas pedal problem for more than a year. The problem was stated to be Toyotas secretive corporate culture in Japan which ultimately conflicted with United States requirements that auto makers disclose arctic threats. refreshed initiatives brought to the table by Toyota have attempted to correct the previous secretive culture of Toyota. Total quality management initiatives have been put in place to assist in better customer service and safety and repair issues. According to Jacobs and Chase, total quality management can be defined as managing the entire organization so that it excels on all dimensions of products and services that are important to the customer (Chase and Jacobs, 2014, p. 296). The table following this discussion addresses the travel Toyota has taken in answer to its recent quality recall proble ms.Functional AreaQuality Management StepsManagement Managing manager names to oversee any safety-related issues Top down management approachProduct Design & Safety Troubleshooting teams known as agile Market Analysis Response Teams work tofind any safety issues that need to be reported Quality TAQIC Toyota Advanced Quality entropy Center staffed by a group of employees who compile repair reports from dealerships worldwide 1000 engineers hired to spot-check qualityManufacturing No drastic changes to convention linesResults/DiscussionProblem SolutionAs discussed in the diagram above, at that place were many opportunities for Toyota after their encounter with the recall situation. Akio Toyoda, the head of the company, acted quickly by implementing a top down management approach instead of the more popular Japanese bottom up approach that slows down the decision making. In addition, Akio path board of directors by fifty percent and cut out management layers. Akio also began meet ing with his top five advisers on a weekly basis. In these meetings decisions were make quickly. Akio pushed his team to make endlessly better cars. This change in the way the organization is managed helped Toyota to stay on top even through the recalls.RecommendationsMany recommendations have been made to assist Toyota Motor Company in improving the recall situation they encountered in 2011. Some recommendations Toyota should follow include as recommended by the North American Quality Advisory Panel include the following Give North American operations more independence in making recall decisions Strengthen quality control processesExtend development time of new products to include more safety tests Create a role of of import Safety Technology Officer Create and launch a Safety Research Center focused on protecting the most important clientele (children, teens, and seniors) These ideas follow the concept of total quality management which focuses on two fundamental goals Careful de sign of the product (in the case of Toyota Motor Company, the vehicle) Ensure that Toyota Motor Company systems can produce this designin a consistent manner Quality at the source seems to be a great way for Toyota Motor Company to proceed. Quality at the source means that the person who is doing the work is taking the responsibility for making sure the work meets specifications. As previously discussed, safety control will be a huge initiative for Toyota Motor Company overtaking forward.If implemented, these recommendations can do a lot to help Toyota Motor Company increase their organizational effectiveness. As previously discussed, many organizational steps were taken by Akio Toyoda after these recalls. It seems that Toyota could greatly benefit from organizational acquisition. As stated by Operations and Supply Chain Management, it has been argued that organizational learning is critical to sustaining a competitive advantage (Chase and Jacobs, 2014, p. 138). Organizational rea lignment was important to Toyota Motor Company after the 2010 and 2011 recalls. According to a Toyota news release in December of 2008 organizational changes include the establishment of the belowA politics and Public Affairs chemical group which was focused on quick response to inquiries from around the world while also unifying public personal business functions. An Accounting Group aimed at strengthening the business management and pecuniary management system of Toyota Motor Company. A Europe and Africa Operations Group intended to assist with business planning in African and Central Asia. The group was also established to conduct business promotion events in both Europe and Africa. A Production Engineering Group aimed at increasing the strength of the quality control system for semiconductors for hybrid vehicles. The recommendations made are important to Toyotas future. Reorganization and creation of new groups within the organization will help Toyota to overcome these recal ls.ReferencesIngram, A. (2014, Feb 12). Toyota recall 1.9 million Prius vehicles recalled to fix software glitch. Retrieved from http//www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2014/0212/Toyota-recall-1.9-million-Prius-vehicles-recalled-to-fix-software-glitch Jacobs, F. R., & Chase, R. (2014). Operations and supply chain management. (14 ed.). New York, NY