Toyota: Global Leader in Quality Automobile Manufacturing - Essay Sample

Introduction

Toyota Motor Company is significantly known globally due to its specialization in the manufacturing of high-quality automobiles. Since World War II, Toyota has continually increased its production base and has also increased its production efforts to meet the advancement requirement as per the Japanese automobile. Some of the techniques introduced by Toyota include Jidoka, the Kanban system, and the JIT approach. The main objective was to reduce the production cost to increase productivity by removing the unnecessary. This essay's primary focus is to describe the JIT techniques and determine how the approaches have been utilized and implemented in the Toyota Company (SAHIL, 2017). JIT approaches are techniques that are commonly used in the MPC (Manufacturing Planning and Control).

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JIT techniques are significant in the sense that they eliminate discrete manufacturing batches, reduce work in process inventories, and reduce the mixed model master production schedules. Thus, the Just-in-Time technique is an integral part of the Toyota Production System (TPS) because it helps the company minimize its production cost. For years now, the use of JIT has continually evolved, particularly in the automobile industry, such as Toyota. The use of JIT in Toyota Company began after World War II (1938), though this technique's potentiality was realized through the integration of TPS. As per Phogat & Gupta (2017), the Just – in – Time technique was developed by Kiichiro Toyoda, the founder of the Toyota Company, while Taiichi Ohno created the Toyota JIT basic framework. JIT in Toyota is described as "making only that is needed, when is needed, and the amount required."

Principals that Enables Toyota to Implement the JIT Technique Successfully

Toyota is one of the most successful companies that practice the use of JIT systems. The strategy, commonly known as the TPS (Toyota Production Strategy), ensures that the raw materials are not brought on the production floor until a time that the order has been made and received from the customer and that the product is ready to be developed. It should be understood that even though JIT influences all three critical areas of the MPC framework that is the front end, engine, and back end, its primary contribution and execution is the back end. Some of the principals towards the success of the implementation of JIT in Toyota company include; the accurate forecasting to stock raw materials at the correct levels, reduction of set up time, continual improvement, reduced transactions, quality improvement, inventory reductions, and labor cost reductions (Taylor, 2017). During the production process in Toyota, JIT works in the sense that no parts are included in the working stations unless needful; this, therefore, helps in minimizing the inventory cost and consequently allows the company to adapt quickly to the demands of the customer, thus significantly reducing the risk of having an excessive inventory at its disposal.

An Analysis of how JIT is used in Different Organizations

As mentioned, the success of the Toyota Company can, to a more considerable extent, be attributed to the implementation of the Just-in-Time techniques. One of the examples of how JIT is used in Toyota Company is that the company produces vehicles based on the orders received from the customers; this, therefore, means that in production, the company utilizes its supply chain in such a way that only the required parts to manufacture the given number of vehicles are received on that particular time. Thus this allows the company to reduce its inventory of the vehicle parts, thus promoting work efficiency. Another example of JIT techniques is the application of JIT techniques by automobile manufacturer suppliers (Taylor, 2017). For example, one would consider an automobile manufacturer and a seat supplier; in this scenario, both the firms must develop a form that will ensure that manufacturing takes place as a single entity. The execution of the processes between these two firms is solely dependent on JIT. The seat supplier must make and deliver the seats as per the agreed time frame on his part. It is important to note that seats are not made to inventory at the supplier, neither are they inventoried in the auto manufacturer; instead, the seats are directly delivered to the assembly line to match the required sequence, meaning that the assembly team can only take the next seat and install it to the next car. Therefore this reduces the cost of transactions between the two firms and reduces the inventory costs.

Application of JIT Techniques to My Organization

Based on the discussion, the utilization of JIT techniques as the case of Toyota is critical to any given organization's success. As discussed, some of the principals of JIT include inventory, total quality, production, supplier, and human resource management. It is essential to understand that for the JIT's success, a strong emphasis should be on the total quality and inventory management. Therefore to effectively use JIT in my organization, I will do the following; establish a pull system; by this, my organization will have a chance to develop a pull system and apply it to the current production process; the pull system will enable the production team to eliminated any kind of waste that may occur during the production process. The organization will also implement the Kanban system that will enable every member of the team to recognize the goals of the current tasks, thus enhancing smooth workflow.

In conclusion, as per the discussion therein, JIT is more philosophical than a strict guideline. When properly utilized, JIT can be of significant help to organizations in the sense that it strengthens and gives the company a competitive advantage in the market. In general, JIT helps organizations reduce waste, improve the quality of the processes and products, and finally, it optimizes expenses, and increases productivity levels. It is also important to note that in many companies, JIT operations are at a greater risk that may be costly to the company. Thus they must be well utilized with high levels of technical know-how.

References

Phogat, S., & Gupta, A. (2017). Theoretical analysis of JIT elements for implementation in maintenance sector. Uncertain Supply Chain Management, 5(3), 187-200.http://m.growingscience.com/beta/uscm/2490-theoretical-analysis-of-jit-elements-for-implementation-in-maintenance-sector.html

SAHIL, M. (2017). Implications of Just-In-Time System of Toyota: A Case Study. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5107/7ced5f9531bce2add77ab987203095567cfa.pdf

Taylor, S. Y. (2017). Just-in-time. In Handbook of Logistics and Supply-Chain Management. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.