Case Scenario:
Toyota: Implementation of a New Business Process
Toyota: An Overview
Toyota is a Japanese auto-manufacturer that is famed for the production of high quality products that are relatively cheap. With pricing strategies that resonate throughout the social classes (i.e. the rich, the middle class and the poor), the car-maker has a vast global market share that helps place it at the top of the motor vehicle industry.
The Purpose of Toyota's Existence
With regard to what Toyota Global stands for, Toyota as a company looks to redefine its business strategy by producing high quality automobiles, gain market competitive edge and to increase its technologies to align in the production of eco-friendly vehicles (Alukal, 2007). In addition to that, the corporation also emphasizes on the need for being socially responsible and to make an improvement on the lives of people all over the world; a promotion of the corporate citizenship agenda within its company.
Why Toyota is of Interest to Me
I am a lover of cars and recently I got to learn about LEAN and Six Sigma approaches and how they have helped a number of firms to up their game with regard to manufacturing, quality improvement and increasing market shares. Overall, Toyota is of interest to me because I have always thought it to be a competent manufacturer of vehicles (I personally own a Toyota Tundra truck); having to manufacture high quality vehicles and custom make them to suit different terrains for different end users is really commendable. Moreover, I would like to know how a process such as LEAN Six Sigma (Kaizen in Japanese) would be of use in a company like Toyota (Arnheiter & Maleyeff 2005).
A description of the project and its relationship to the organization's business
Objectives
At the present, the executive management of Toyota has been looking to find ways to maximize the company's production and total factor productivity while minimizing the cost of production (Kato & Smalley, 2010). This is in line with the corporation's bigger scheme to increase the margins, maximize profit and beat competition with newly gained competitive advantages. The implementation of a new business process in Toyota's production plants is basically the implementation of LEAN Kaizen (Al Smadi, 2009). Kaizen refers to a Japanese business principle that is bent on continuous improvement of the production process; employee working practices and personal efficiency on the part of executive management and operations assistants; all this is done in a bid to realize total factor productivity (labor, capital and technology). The Kaizen (business process) implementation project would help the company realize overall continuous improvement; a concept that is not only useful at the plant level where only manufacturing takes place, but also in other areas such as employee responsiveness and time management (Dahlgaard & Mi Dahlgaard-Park, 2006).
Availability of Organizational Data
Finding information on Toyota would not be a hard thing to do since the company is a renowned multi-national corporation. With the global vehicle market being appreciative of its technologies Toyota has grown leaps and bounds; information on Toyota Motor Corporation is found on the internet and even in several books; usually business and motivational books that have venerated the carmaker for its commendable work ethics and success strategies. Conclusively, redefining Kaizen in the company would go a long way in maintaining Toyota's global position on the corporate map.
References
Al Smadi, S. (2009). Kaizen strategy and the drive for competitiveness: challenges and opportunities. Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal, 19(3), 203-
211.
Alukal, G. (2007). Lean Kaizen in the 21st century. Quality progress, 40(8), 69. Arnheiter, E. D., & Maleyeff, J. (2005). The integration of lean management and Six Sigma. TheTQM magazine, 17(1), 5-18.
Dahlgaard, J. J., & Mi Dahlgaard-Park, S. (2006). Lean production, six sigma quality, TQM and
company culture. The TQM magazine, 18(3), 263-281. Kato, I., & Smalley, A. (2010). Toyota Kaizen methods: Six steps to improvement. CRC Press.