Toyota Motor Manufacturing Inc. Case Study
A lean business is a business aimed at maximizing value while minimizing waste (Lynn, 2020). Lean management is based on certain tenets that are optimizing the whole by identifying the value streams and through it the activities and processes aimed at delivering the result to the customer. Another important tenet is eliminating waste to maximize the value to the customer, build quality in and thus maintain the focus throughout the business, fast delivery of value, and incorporating customer increments and creation of knowledge through continuous learning. Lean management also involves a deferred commitment to decision-making and respect for the people.
Concerning the Toyota Manufacturing case, this paper discusses why Americans are not comfortable with using the Toyota method for solving problems. The challenge that Americans have is adopting the Toyota case into the American culture and this is a challenge that will be discussed in this paper. In the analysis of the Toyota Manufacturing case, mistakes will be identified and there will be a discussion of how the firm should respond to the problems in the case. This will be highlighted in the next sections of the paper.
Americans and the Toyota Method
The Toyota method in its implementation has a lot of flaws and this barred the effective application of Americans in using the model to solve problems. The company’s value statement “Better cars for better people” does not align with the customer preferences and buying ability. At the time this was effective, that is after the second world war, fewer Americans could even afford cars. This was the case even at the basic prices and therefore brought about the challenge of applying the value statement, a critical component of the value proposition of the company.
Cause and effect problems in the model are also another reason that made it difficult for Toyota Motor to be applied in America. This was because the problems were never ending and the solution to them called for massive resources. An example from the case was faulty resources that due to their effect on line utilization, made it impossible to solve. The other reason for the difficulty in applying the Toyota Manufacturing business model is its minute impact on the various economic phenomena that made the model insignificant. An example is labor productivity which was only an eighth. Labor has the effect of making something relatable and engraved into the culture but in this case, this was difficult as only an insignificant portion of Americans had bought this idea. This barred the effectiveness that Americans had in this model to solve the problems.
Problems from the case
The Toyota model had to cut costs in line with the tenets of lean but this was difficult due to the absence of economies of scale. This made it very difficult to achieve. The Toyota model in line with its value statement of giving the best to the customer had to have an entirely new source of economy to satisfy the customer with variety, quality, and timeliness at a reasonable price. The firm works at minimizing the cost at whatever angle, introducing a new source of economies therefore will work against the principle of minimizing costs. The other problem from the case was the definition of waste, its identification, and how this was handled. The overproduction capacity that called for increased working hours is also another problem in the Toyota Manufacturing case. Through this, the plant capacity was overstretched and thus increased burnout and health issues. At the beginning of the case, the production manager acknowledged that time off by the various workers was indeed needed.
Solutions to Problems in the case
The problems in the case were partly caused by a lack of adherence to lean management principles. The firm ought to uphold the lean management principles by incorporating the customer perspective and hence implement the perspective in alignment with this. To uphold lean management, the firm could also streamline the production processes for instance by only producing what is needed by the customer and thus improve efficiency and minimize waste. The solution to the burnout problem is a set schedule strictly enforced so that the various people uphold it to the latter. By ensuring that people work in shifts with mandatory breaks, people will relax and be healthy and production will continue in the firm.
The other solution is minimizing waste through effective production mechanisms and the need to keep the relevant output only. This will ensure efficient and reliable production and consequently improved growth. The business model should incorporate various aspects of the American culture to align them with the goals and missions and consequently make them relevant in the application of this model. In conclusion, for the Toyota Model, much has to be done in streamlining the model with qualitative attributes such as time management and culture.
Final Remarks
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