In the weekend, I read "The Toyota Way" which is management principles of Toyota Production System (this is often included in many MBA curricula).
After reading the book, I just wonder how could Toyota allow this accelerating debacle to happen?
Some news said as far back as in 2006, some Toyota employees raised their concerned.
So, how did it go unnoticed then? If Toyota themselves followed their own principles, it just could not happen at all.
??
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maybe if you stick your head up too far over the parapet you lose your job your home your nice car your wife your kids your opportunity to buy cafe lattes etc
so you keep quiet get promoted to another dept and then its no longer your concern?
happens in the labour party so why not in business
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call me a fool but i very rarely read wikidpedia
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All you say is true Bellboy, but I thought the whole point of the TPS was that employees could raise issues without fear of retribution?
Of course, what the policy book says and what happens in the real world are often not the same thing.
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TPS was a legend and many other industries tried to implement it.
Sad to see "bonus" culture has infected one of the most respected manufactuers too.
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>> So how did it go unnoticed then? If Toyota themselves followed their own principles it
>> just could not happen at all.
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>> ??
>>
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Most car brands these days are sub-assemblies stuck together to make a product.
They specify what they want and farm it our to 1st, 2nd and 3rd tier suppliers.
You would hope they would test the delivered parts before sticking them on the vehicle but as we have seen with Toyota, Mercedes etc... miles and miles of testing does not appear to flush out the gremlins.
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You've not picked up on how good TPS was/is if followed. Other companies have adopted TPS principles too and benefited. Ironically Toyota ignored their own idea/approach to quality.
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If it works on day 1 it may not work on day 2. Never relax or the beast will undoubtedly bite you.
MD
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>> If it works on day 1 it may not work on day 2
TPS did.... but not at Toyota it seems.
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You need PEOPLE in charge. Highly skilled, highly motivated, Highly paid and highly respected. AND they take the blame should the worst happen.
MD
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Me, "These item's not to spec" Manager, "They're not 100% but its OK to use them"
Me, "These items out of spec"
Manager, "I'll call QA" -
QA, "I'll place the items on hold and notify the supplier"
The supplier admits there's a problem with the supplied items and replaces them with good to spec items.
The rejected items then reappear on the shop floor with the "On hold paperwork" ripped off, these now free items are fitted, "They're not 100% but its OK to use them"
This is real world production, the acronyms and BS are there for external audits....................
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>> You've not picked up on how good TPS was/is if followed.
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I didn't think it needed mentioning. It's there for all to see and well documented how Toyota can go from a clean sheet of paper to a product in the showroom in eighteen months, how Toyota are now the world's no.1 manufacturer of white goods on wheels.
I would ask the question of TPS though if it worked in all situations how come Toyota only ever managed a best of 4th in 2005 in F1 WCC ?
How did Ross Brawn take a Honda team that finished 9th in 2008 and turn them into WCC in 2009? One year to tunraround an also ran. That wasn't process that was experience.
>> Other companies have adopted TPS principles too and benefited. Ironically Toyota
>> ignored their own idea/approach to quality.
>>
Again, it is well documented how Porsche were saved by the TPS predecessor JiT . How most manufacturing companies adopt some form of Lean Six Sigma process.
Last edited by: gmac on Wed 17 Mar 10 at 06:14
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I wonder is complacency caused them to focus on the means instead of the aims.
It's all very well having a super-efficient system that produces cars like shelling peas - but the aim should be to satisfy the, often fickle and irrational, customer; that's what they've forgotten.
Their once-renowned reputation for quality has taken some severe knocks; not only the run-away debacle; [why did they delete the brake/throttle over-ride?] but what were they thinking by letting a French manufacturer build cars for them in Eastern Europe?
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Toyota Production System - Bellboy
