Operations Improvement Plan
U06a1 Operations Improvement Plan
Jessica Horlacher
Capella University
MBA 6022
February 16, 2012
Dr. Huang
Executive Summary
Toyota is one of the leading vehicle manufactures in the world and has faced some challenges throughout the years. This paper will discuss a key issue that Toyota has faced and how they can utilize communication software to improve the business relationship between supplier and Toyota.
Operations Improvement Plan
Introduction
Toyota Overview
Toyota is one of the leading manufacturers of vehicles in the United States and across the globe. Toyota is ranked #55 in Forbes, World’s Biggest Public Companies, and capturing sales of 202.8 billion and a market cap of 137.8 billion as of March 2011 (Forbes.com, 2011).” Founded in 1937 in Japan, Toyota now employs 320,590 with operations all over the world (Forbes.com, 2011). “Recognizing a growing market in the United States, in 1957 Toyota established its first sales, marketing and distribution subsidiary in the U.S. called Toyota Motor Sales Inc. (Gretto, M., Schotter, A., & Teagarden, M. 2009, p.2).” Over the years Toyota has manufactured and sold vehicles all over the world and is a leader in innovation and technology. However, in recent years Toyota has faced many setbacks that have consumers concerned about their safety and have Toyota looking for a way to get back their credibility.
The current situation Toyota faces is the recall of millions of vehicles due to sudden acceleration causing the death of a few consumers. The delayed reaction from Toyota has them scrambling to make things right in the eyes of the customers and law makers. Robert Cole (2011) states “there appears to be two root causes for Toyota’s quality problems: the first is an outgrowth of management’s ambitions for rapid growth; and second is the result of the increasing complexity of the company’s products.”
Challenges
Toyota implemented an ”aggressive globalization strategy by building factories in
Jessica Horlacher
Capella University
MBA 6022
February 16, 2012
Dr. Huang
Executive Summary
Toyota is one of the leading vehicle manufactures in the world and has faced some challenges throughout the years. This paper will discuss a key issue that Toyota has faced and how they can utilize communication software to improve the business relationship between supplier and Toyota.
Operations Improvement Plan
Introduction
Toyota Overview
Toyota is one of the leading manufacturers of vehicles in the United States and across the globe. Toyota is ranked #55 in Forbes, World’s Biggest Public Companies, and capturing sales of 202.8 billion and a market cap of 137.8 billion as of March 2011 (Forbes.com, 2011).” Founded in 1937 in Japan, Toyota now employs 320,590 with operations all over the world (Forbes.com, 2011). “Recognizing a growing market in the United States, in 1957 Toyota established its first sales, marketing and distribution subsidiary in the U.S. called Toyota Motor Sales Inc. (Gretto, M., Schotter, A., & Teagarden, M. 2009, p.2).” Over the years Toyota has manufactured and sold vehicles all over the world and is a leader in innovation and technology. However, in recent years Toyota has faced many setbacks that have consumers concerned about their safety and have Toyota looking for a way to get back their credibility.
The current situation Toyota faces is the recall of millions of vehicles due to sudden acceleration causing the death of a few consumers. The delayed reaction from Toyota has them scrambling to make things right in the eyes of the customers and law makers. Robert Cole (2011) states “there appears to be two root causes for Toyota’s quality problems: the first is an outgrowth of management’s ambitions for rapid growth; and second is the result of the increasing complexity of the company’s products.”
Challenges
Toyota implemented an ”aggressive globalization strategy by building factories in
References: Cole, R. (2011). What Really Happened to Toyota? MIT Sloan Management Review. Forbes. (2011). Forbes global 2000 leading companies. Retrieved on January 12, 2012 from http://www.forbes.com/companies/toyota-motor/#. Greto, M., Schotter, A., & Teagarden, M. (2010). Toyota: The accelerator crisis. Thunderbird School of Global Management Gulledge, T., Cavusoglu, T., & Kessler, T. (nd.) Aligning the Supply Chain Operations Reference Model with Enterprise Applications: Real Time Value Chain Intelligence. Retrieved on February 9, 2012 from http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4TSNA_enUS413US414&q=how+to+implement+the+SCOR+perfomance+model Rippa, P. (nd). Information Sharing in Buyer-Supplier Relationships. Retrieved on February 4, 2012 from http://www.iimm.org/knowledge_bank/IFPSM/Pierluigi%20Rippa.pdf Russell, R. & Taylor, B.W. (2009). Operations Management: Creating Value along the Supply Chain. 6th ed. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Toyotasupplier.com (2012). Relationship Between Tier II Sourcing Program and the APP Process. Retrieved on January 29, 2012 from toyotasupplier.com/sup_diversity/tier_II_sourcing_program_05_20_2009.pdf Toyotasupplier.com (2012). Helping Suppliers Compete. Retrieved on January 29, 2012 from http://toyotasupplier.com/sup_guide/sup_compete.asp