On the Business Management website, Daniel C. Jones draws some lessons from the mistakes that have been made at Toyota.
He starts by emphasising that Toyota's "lean production" system became the blueprint for virtually every kind of manufacturing, as its "painstaking attention to detail, aggressive pursuit of perfection and self-assured marketing techniques has made Toyota the world's largest car firm".
Jones observes that every car-maker has copied Toyota's manufacturing and supply chain management, so when the company was hit by the damaging safety recalls earlier in the year, its rivals "refrained from basking in its failings and instead returned to their shop floors fully aware that the same could happen to them".
The author identifies the main problem as Toyota taking their eye off the ball as they pushed their production model beyond its limits. Practices were adopted that were too far removed from the company's tried-and-trusted processes that had put them in the position of market leader in the first place.
Engineering quality suffered as a result and Jones quotes Toyota chief Akio Toyoda's explanation to a US congressional panel: "Toyota has, for the past few years, been expanding its business rapidly. Quite frankly, I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick."
Toyoda further explained: "Toyota's priority has traditionally been the following: First, Safety; Second, Quality; and Third, Volume... These became confused, and we were not able to stop, think, and make improvements as much as we were able to before, and our basic stance to listen to customers' voices to make better products has weakened somewhat."
Jones summarises the technological problems at Toyota as "a failure in culture". He explains: "Rapid expansion, strained engineering resources and a centralised corporate structure put stress on Toyota's established and widely emulated corporate discipline."
He concludes: "The key is always keeping some of the familiar while embarking on something new. Perhaps this the most valuable lesson to be learned from Toyota's recall crisis."
Learning from Toyota's mistakes
Daniel C. Jones, Business Management, 09/03/10
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