Executive Summary Toyota Motor Manufacturing (TMM) confronted with several critical issues. (See Appendix 1) These issues caused the insufficient Just-in-Time (JIT) system. The first two critical issues are too much dependence on sole supplier and insufficient information management. Since TMM failed to communicate with sole supplier KFS, they projected the production unrealistically. Also, because of incapability of KFS to supply the car seat demand, a growing number of cars sit off the line with defective seats or no seats at all. For these two issues, we recommended a short-term solution for TMM to hold monthly meeting with KFS in order to overcome current crisis in seat supply. On the other hand, an effective information system should be set up to help TMM to determine the future projection. Meanwhile, TMM should use statistical process control (SPC) chart to monitor the product quality continuously. For a long-run strategy, TMM needs to build up its own plant for production seats so that it can easily control the specification and quantity of the seats that fully subject to its own requirements, and also minimize material cost.
Toyota Camry photographed in Waldorf, Maryland, US...
Rear-side shot of a fifth generation Toyota Camry,...
Front-side shot of a fifth generation Toyota Camry...Furthermore, lack of process synchronization and poor production planning delay the company to produce the best productivity and quality. For companyáæs lack of process synchronization, possible solutions are recommended such as: utilizing JIT, eliminating waste, and providing a better training program to enhance teamwork. Similarly, possible solutions for poor production planning are recommended for improvement of process organization and process flexibility.
Organization Profile In July 1988, Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) founded a subsidiary, Toyota Motor Manufacturing (TMM), which began volume production on 1,300 acre site in Georgetown, near Lexington. Since then, the plant had an annual capacity of 200,000 Toyota Camry sedans; furthermore, in 1992, TMM was expected to supply 240,000 of the all-new Camrys. For the first...