Toyota Motor Corporation

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Toyota Motor Corporation is almost a showcase company for how effective total quality management (TQM) can be applied at every stage of the production process. The author points out that Toyota is credited with several innovations in automotive manufacturing including supply chain management and inventory control, including just-in-time management as well as quality processes including total quality management, which has been heralded as one of Toyota's keys to success. The paper relates that TQM emphases a corporate culture with a lot of employee participation and systematic management of the data, processes and practices to eliminate waste and pursue continuous improvement. The author describes several of Toyota's seven principals of TQM, such as reducing set-up times by teaching workers to do their own set-ups, producing products in smaller batches and pull production.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
A Brief History & Overview
Total Quality Management
Toyota's Production System - Lean Manufacturing - Do More with Less
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Quality at the source is another key element to TQM. In other words, as soon as a problem or defect is found, it must be corrected as soon as possible. It is much less expensive to fix a problem early on, than later in the process. For instance, if a problem is discovered at step one in the production process, it might cost as little as $6 to fix. If it is discovered at step three, it might cost $15. If it is not discovered until the part is eventually inspected for quality that same mistake could cost the company $1,500, $2,000 or more. When that number is compounded by several mistakes, the savings of catching mistakes early can be substantial."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Eilat, A. (1999, January). Forever improving: The key to success - continuous improvement. Retrieved April 12, 2007, from http://kr-emba.tau.ac.il/_Articles/Article.asp?ArticleID=159&CategoryID=71
• Hashmi, K. (2007). Introduction and implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM). Retrieved April 12, 2007 from http://www.isixsigma.com/library/content/c031008a.asp
• Hendricks, K. & Singhal, V. (2000, March). The impact of TQM on financial performance: Evidence from quality award winners. Retrieved April 11, 2007, from http://www.strategosinc.com/_downloads/total_quality_payoff.pdf
• Kotelnikov, V. (n.d.). Case study Toyota. Retrieved April 12, 2007, from http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/cs_efficiency_toyota_ps.html
• Quality management: A prerequisite to your market success. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2007, from http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/mgmt_quality.html

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