Quality in Practice: Toyota Motor Corporation, Ltd.

Action Required: (Read case study and answer the questions)

Quality in Practice: Toyota Motor Corporation, Ltd.

The Toyota brand name has earned an international reputation for quality. The roots of Toyota Motor Corporation, founded in 1937, stem from the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works. Sakichi Toyoda invented a loom with an automatic stopping function; whenever a thread broke or the machine ran out of thread, it stopped automatically. This approach was built into automotive assembly lines to improve quality and productivity and led to the development of the Toyota Production System, which has commonly become known as lean production. A significant feature of lean production is the practice of continuous improvement by every worker, demanding the questioning of every process and testing of all assumptions. Errors and defects are viewed as learning opportunities to remove waste and improve efficiency. In 1951, Eiji Toyoda instituted a system of creative suggestions based on the motto Good Thinking, Good Products, which is prominently displayed in every production facility. One example is the Rakuraku seat, a comfortable work chair mounted on the tip of an arm that allows a line worker to easily get into and out of cramped car-body interiors. In 2000, more than 650,000 suggestions were submittedalmost 12 per employeeand 99 percent were adopted. At Toyota, everybody helps whenever they can. Even top and middle managers are well known for getting their hands dirty by helping workers on the production line when necessary.

Toyota uses games, competitions, and cultural events to promote its 3 Cs: creativity, challenge, and courage. It trains workers extensively, not only in job skills, but also in personal development that focuses on positive attitudes and a sense of responsibility. Toyotas education system includes formal education, on-the-job training, and informal education.

Toyota is implementing a direct monitoring system that supports quality. For example, its

French plant is connected by a broadband system to the head office, enabling it to transmit video, audio, and facility performance data. Engineers in Japan can monitor the data of the plants operation in real time, check machinery utilization rates, diagnose malfunctions, and provide ideas for improvement. Information technology and e-commerce are also used to expand relationships with suppliers and customers. For example, customers may request quotes and gather information that previously was only available to dealers.

Shotaro Kamiya, first president of Toyota Motor Sales, stated, The priority in receiving

benefits from automobile sales should be in the order of the customer, then the car dealer, and

lastly the maker. This attitude is the best approach in winning the trust of customers and dealers and ultimately brings growth to the manufacturer. The guiding principles of Toyota are as follows:

1. Honor the language and spirit of the law of every nation and undertake open and fair

corporate activities to be a good corporate citizen of the world.

2. Respect the culture and customs of every nation and contribute to economic and social

development through corporate activities in the communities.

3. Dedicate ourselves to providing clean and safe products and to enhancing the quality of

life everywhere through all our activities.

4. Create and develop advanced technologies and provide outstanding products and services

that fulfill the needs of customers worldwide.

5. Foster a corporate culture that enhances individual creativity and teamwork value, while

honoring mutual trust and respect between labor and management.

6. Pursue growth in harmony with the global community through innovative management.

7. Work with business partners in research and creation to achieve stable, long-term growth

and mutual benefits, while keeping ourselves open to new partnerships.

Toyota has approximately 40 production facilities in more than 20 countries and regions

outside Japan. When Toyota began expanding outside of Japan, many believed that the culture could not be copied or applied to foreign cultures, especially in the United States. With a focus of incorporating the best elements of Japanese and local traditions, while avoiding the weaknesses of both, Toyota as proven that its approaches and culture can work everywhere.

One popular phrase at Toyota is change or die. The company continually seeks to redefine itself to adapt to changes in society and the business environment. Toyotas recent vision is captured by the phrase harmonious growtha harmony between man, society, and the environment.

We wish to make Toyota not only strong but a universally admired company, winning the

trust and respect of the world. We must be a company that is accepted wholeheartedly by

people around the world, who would think it natural if Toyota became No. 1 in size, since

we provide attractive products that excel in environmental protection and in safety and

thus contribute immensely to local communities. That is the goal of Harmonious

Growth and what I regard as corporate virtue. – Hiroshi Okuda, Chairman

Test your Knowledge (Question):

Question 1

What do Toyotas guiding principles mean for its management system? In particular, how

do they reflect the principles of total quality?

Question 2

Many health care organizations have learned from manufacturing companies in their

quality journey. What can nonmanufacturing companies learn and apply from Toyotas

philosophy and practices? Suggest specific things that education and government might learn.?

Action Required: (Read case study and answer the questions)

Case: The Nightmare on Telecom Street

H. James Harrington, a noted quality consultant, related the following story in Quality Digest

magazine:

I called to make a flight reservation just an hour ago. The telephone rang five times before a recorded voice answered. Thank you for calling ABC Travel Services, it said. To ensure the highest level of customer service, this call may be recorded for future analysis. Next, I was asked to select from one of the following three choices: If the trip is related to company business, press 1. Personal business, press 2. Group travel, press 3. I pressed 1. I was then asked to select from the following four choices: If this is a trip within the United States, press 1. International, press 2. Scheduled training, press 3. Related to a

conference, press 4. Because I was going to Canada, I pressed 2. Now two minutes into my telephone call, I was instructed to be sure that I had my customer identification card available.

A few seconds passed and a very sweet voice came on, saying, All international operators are busy, but please hold because you are a very important customer. The voice was then replaced by music. About two minutes later, another recorded message said, Our operators are still busy, but please hold and the first available operator will take care of you. More music. Then yet another message: Our operators are still busy, but please hold. Your business is important to us. More bad music. Finally the sweet voice returned, stating, To speed up your service, enter your 19-digit customer service number. I frantically searched for their card, hoping that I could find it before I was cut off. I was lucky; I found it and entered the number in time. The same sweet voice came back to me, saying, To confirm your customer service number, enter the last four digits of your social security number.

I pushed the four numbers on the keypad. The voice said: Thank you. An operator will be with you shortly. If your call is an emergency, you can call 1-800-CAL-HELP, or push all of the buttons on the telephone at the same time. Otherwise, please hold, as you are a very important customer. This time, in place of music, I heard a commercial about the service that the company provides. At last, a real person answered the telephone and asked, Can I help you? I replied, Yes, oh yes. He answered, Please give me your 19-digit customer service number, followed by the last four digits of your social security number so I can verify who you are. (I thought I gave these numbers in the first place to speed up service. Why do I have to rattle them off again?) I was now convinced that he would call me Mr. 5523-3675-0714-1313-040. But, to my surprise, he said: Yes, Mr. Harrington. Where do you want to go and when? I explained that I wanted to go to Montreal the following Monday morning. He replied: I only handle domestic reservations. Our international desk has a new telephone number: 1-800-1WE-GOTU. Ill transfer you. A few clicks later a message came on, saying: All of our international operators are busy. Please hold and your call will be answered in the order it was received. Do not hang up or redial, as it will only delay our response to your call. Please continue to hold, as your business is important to us.

Test your Knowledge (Question):

Question 1

Summarize the service failures associated with this experience.?

Question 2

What might the travel agency do to improve its customers service experience?

Instructions:

1- Answer the given question in your (own word) – No plagiarism, No match, please.

Compelling correspondence is essential to the achievement all things considered but since of the changing idea of the present working environments, successful correspondence turns out to be more troublesome, and because of the numerous impediments that will permit beneficiaries to acknowledge the plan of the sender It is restricted. Misguided judgments.In spite of the fact that correspondence inside the association is rarely completely open, numerous straightforward arrangements can be executed to advance the effect of these hindrances.

Concerning specific contextual analysis, two significant correspondence standards, correspondence channel determination and commotion are self-evident. This course presents the standards of correspondence, the act of general correspondence, and different speculations to all the more likely comprehend the correspondence exchanges experienced in regular daily existence. The standards and practices that you learn in this course give the premise to additionally learning and correspondence.

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This course starts with an outline of the correspondence cycle, the method of reasoning and hypothesis. In resulting modules of the course, we will look at explicit use of relational connections in close to home and expert life. These incorporate relational correspondence, bunch correspondence and dynamic, authoritative correspondence in the work environment or relational correspondence. Rule of Business Communication In request to make correspondence viable, it is important to follow a few rules and standards. Seven of them are fundamental and applicable, and these are clear, finished, brief, obliging, right, thought to be, concrete. These standards are frequently called 7C for business correspondence. The subtleties of these correspondence standards are examined underneath: Politeness Principle: When conveying, we should build up a cordial relationship with every individual who sends data to us.

To be inviting and polite is indistinguishable, and politeness requires an insightful and amicable activity against others. Axioms are notable that gracious “pay of graciousness is the main thing to win everything”. Correspondence staff ought to consistently remember this. The accompanying standards may assist with improving courtesy:Preliminary considering correspondence with family All glad families have the mystery of progress. This achievement originates from a strong establishment of closeness and closeness. Indeed, through private correspondence these cozy family connections become all the more intently. Correspondence is the foundation of different affiliations, building solid partners of obedient devotion, improving family way of life, and assisting with accomplishing satisfaction (Gosche, p. 1). In any case, so as to keep up an amicable relationship, a few families experienced tumultuous encounters. Correspondence in the family is an intricate and alluring marvel. Correspondence between families isn’t restricted to single messages between families or verbal correspondence.

It is a unique cycle that oversees force, closeness and limits, cohesiveness and flexibility of route frameworks, and makes pictures, topics, stories, ceremonies, rules, jobs, making implications, making a feeling of family life An intelligent cycle that makes a model. This model has passed ages. Notwithstanding the view as a family and family automatic framework, one of the greatest exploration establishments in between family correspondence centers around a family correspondence model. Family correspondence model (FCP) hypothesis clarifies why families impart in their own specific manner dependent on one another ‘s psychological direction. Early FCP research established in media research is keen on how families handle broad communications data. Family correspondence was perceived as an exceptional scholastic exploration field by the National Communications Association in 1989. Family correspondence researchers were at first impacted by family research, social brain science, and relational hypothesis, before long built up the hypothesis and began research in a family framework zeroed in on a significant job. Until 2001, the primary issue of the Family Communication Research Journal, Family Communication Magazine, was given. Family correspondence is more than the field of correspondence analysts in the family. Examination on family correspondence is normally done by individuals in brain science, humanism, and family research, to give some examples models. However, as the popular family correspondence researcher Leslie Baxter stated, it is the focal point of this intelligent semantic creation measure making the grant of family correspondence special. In the field of in-home correspondence, correspondence is normally not founded on autonomous messages from one sender to one beneficiary, yet dependent on the dynamic interdependency of data shared among families It is conceptualized. The focal point of this methodology is on the shared trait of semantic development inside family frameworks. As such, producing doesn’t happen in vacuum, however it happens in a wide scope of ages and social exchange.

Standards are rules end up being followed when performing work to agree to a given objective. Hierarchical achievement relies significantly upon compelling correspondence. So as to successfully impart, it is important to follow a few standards and rules. Coming up next are rules to guarantee powerful correspondence: clearness: lucidity of data is a significant guideline of correspondence. For beneficiaries to know the message plainly, the messages ought to be sorted out in a basic language. To guarantee that beneficiaries can without much of a stretch comprehend the importance of the message, the sender needs to impart unmistakably and unhesitatingly so the beneficiary can plainly and unquestionably comprehend the data.>

Quality in Practice: Toyota Motor Corporation, Ltd.

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