Process Improvement:
Operations Improvement Plan
Jordan Barnes
MBA 6022
I. Process Identification
Background of The Issue In the 1960's Toyota linked together quality, customer satisfaction, and profit. These became pillars for Toyota's foundation and the company's baseline for growth and expansion. In 2009, the company's recalls started with what was deemed a floor mat issue. “Over the next four months, the company recalled 3.4 million more vehicles in three separate recalls over and above the initial 3.8 million, for a total of more than 7 million” (Cole, 2011). The issues were linked to different things; Sticky gas pedals, more floor mat problems, software glitches, and electrical problems. But one fact remained, the percentage …show more content…

The first is the flawed company structure. Because Toyota is ran by an all male group of Japanese men, there is a cultural disconnect with the parts of their business outside of Japan. This also creates a bottom to top fear complex, where car dealers fear the consequences of sending up bad news or a bad report. Furthermore, there is only one central hub where decisions are made (which is in Japan) and this can easily slow down response times to problems. The second cause is Toyota's poor risk management strategy or lack thereof. With no risk management team or effective plan in place, the car dealers have no clear plan of action regarding multiple issues or multiple car defects. The third cause focuses on the company’s misconstrued core values. Toyota's values were ordered as Safety, Quality, and Volume. But when the want to be the best in the industry became the need to be the best, volume became the most important value. Quality and, subsequently, safety fell behind. The last cause was the company’s manufacturing system. When Toyota set out to beat GM in the automobile industry, they had one goal in mind: having the most cars on the road. They managed to accomplish this but it was at the expense of quality. The new suppliers they started working with had cheaper cost. This allowed them to save money and increase volume but the quality