Toyoto Motor Corporation
7/27/2014
Introduction Toyota Motor Corporation is one of the largest and most diversified auto manufacturers in the world today with supply chains and production systems that span across over 70 nations with sourcing, procurement and quality management systems unified to their manufacturing centers. The high enormous complexity within these operations have made it essential for Toyota to create the most advanced supply chain management systems globally, the Toyota Production System (TPS) (Dyer, Nobeoka, 2000). This system is the backbone of their entire operations and is so complete in its coverage of supply chain operations, it takes approximately one year to get suppliers up to speed and to the point of meeting quality standards on it (Toyota Investor Relations, 2012). The TPS is a foundational element of the mission of Toyota as well. As is stated in the company’s annual reports and on the investor relations area of their website their mission is “To attract and attain customers with high-valued products and services and the most satisfying ownership experience worldwide and in key markets including America ” (Toyota Investor Relations, 2012),. To attain these high levels of customer satisfaction, all aspects of the Toyota business model must be synchronized to deliver the greatest levels of reliability possible at the lowest costs. The vision statement of Toyota as also defined in their financial statements is "To be the most successful and respected car company worldwide and in key markets including America" (Toyota Investor Relations, 2012). Despite the recalls that occurred in the 2010 and 2011 timeframe, Toyota continues to reinvest in and continually look for how they can best improve worldwide Total Quality Management (TQM) performance, taking into account House of Quality, Lean Six Sigma and quality functional management initiatives, all aimed at increasing the
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