Introduction
Toyota is the leading manufacturer of automobiles in the World today. Looking back at the history of Toyota, the company was on the brink of bankruptcy by the end of 1949, however Toyota has successfully gained the status of number one car manufacturer in the World and has held onto that status even though Toyota has faced massive hurdles over the past 5 years.
A major factor to the success of Toyota is due to effective Quality Management in the form of company practices that have been replicated all over the World by major organisation’s to date. Toyota engages a stringent management system based on founding principles of operations management and excellence, such as the Toyota Production System (TPS). By spearheading such programmes, Toyota has enjoyed substantial growth and worldwide success.
Throughout this assignment I shall explore the importance of Toyota’s operations management schemes and measure the relative success of the overall strategic managements objectives.
1.1 The Importance of effective operations management in achieving organizational objectives of Toyota as a leading manufacturer and supplier of automobiles?
Operations Management can be simply defined as the function of effectively and efficiently managing the process of production and business operations both internally and externally. A simple definition however does not do justice for the broad scope that encompasses operations management and the vital role it plays in making an organisation successful and competitive in today’s market. Companies that employ a successful operations management programme have strategic planning, tactical input and operational success. Companies that do not utilise this operations function face difficulties in market trend short sightedness and lack of competitive edge that can ultimately result in a decline of customers, loss of