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Toyota Motor Corporation is the company which has a positive image among the customers in the USA and in Europe. But, having some technical problems with the defective accelerator pedals, the company had to recall more than 8 million cars and tracks. The first signs of the problem took place at the end of 2009 when customers turned to the service centres for helps.
The company did not pay much attention to the problem thinking that it was an isolated case. But when the customers became to tell about the problem from different parts of the world, the company began to worry about it.
The main purpose was to protect people from incidents which could occur and to save the company positive image. Here is the critical analysis of the quality management issues Toyota faced in the USA and Europe in 2009-2010.
It is obvious that each company tries to satisfy the client as he/she is the core idea of the company’s profit. Evaluating quality management issues discussed company had to face, it is crucial to take the whole period from the problem identification up to now and rely on the quality management principles.
Using those principles the company managed to recover from the crisis and to be able to renew customers’ trust.
The main principles of the total quality management Toyota had to face were “customer focus”, “process approach”, “system approach to management”, “continual improvement”, “factual approach to decision making”, and “mutually beneficial supplier relationship” (Boyer and Verma 44). The principles are discussed in detail in ISO 9000:2008.
Getting down to the discussion of the principles in closer relation to the company, it may be noticed that one of the main problems which appeared was the disbalance in quality cycle.
The company failed to provide its customers with the quality product may be considered as the violation of the process approach principle in the total quality management (Imai150). The lean production the company uses might be the central reason for the problem appearance as the company is unable to follow the process of lean production completely (Womack, Jones and Roos 11).
Considering the problem deeper, it is possible to state that the main idea of lean production is to reduce wastes. The company reduced waste by means of cost reduction. Toyota failed to execute lean practices in a proper way and to embody effective lean principles.
These actions led to the situation which could be observed in 2009-2010. Furthermore, the company also failed to follow the factual approach to decision making in the total quality management and failed to provide quality support at one. If the company paid attention to the problem at the end on 2009, it would not have to recall the models of 2010 (Kim n.p.). In this case, the company would suffer fewer costs.
Considering the situation with recalls, it is obvious that the company did not manage to meet the requirements of the system approach to management principle of total quality management. The quality objectives of the company products were neither efficient nor effective as the customers were provided with the spoiled vehicles.
Critically evaluating the customer focus of the company, it is possible to mention that this was the main failure the company made. When the problem was identified, the company made the main mistake, it remained silent for a week. Neither the company nor its representatives provided comments and only after this period the company began to discuss the problem in public (Wakabayashi, Sanchanta and Takahashi n.p.).
When the company understood that their image is under stress, they began to act. Public speeches and the ability to turn o company representatives were the first steps. Furthermore, the company recall of the cars was the central event. The company understood that it is impossible to solve the problem regionally and the global decision had to take place.
The company expenses comprised around $1 billion, resulted from recall and sales stoppage (Wakabayashi, Sanchanta and Takahashi n.p.). Still, it is possible to conclude that those actions renewed the company in customers’ eyes and now people still trust Toyota.
Considering other total quality management principles the company faced during 2009-2010, it is possible to mention continual improvement which was at the high level as having understood the problem the company did much to solve it as well as implementing effective mutually beneficial supplier relationship as the whole Europe and USA were touched by the problem.
It is important to understand that when the company faced the problem it hoped that only several items were affected. But everything turned another way round and the company had to make a decision. The inability to do it fast created a number of problems. The company tried to solve the problem without recalling so many cars, but when the situation was out of control there was no other way but do it.
In conclusion, it should be mentioned that one of the main reasons for occurrence of the problems connected with Toyota in 2009-2010 was the failure to follow the total quality management principles. In case if the company managed to control the situation from the point of view of the standard, the problem would not take place and the company would not have to suffer so huge expenses.
Works Cited
Boyer, Kenneth Karel and Rohit Verma. Operations and Supply Chain Management for the 21st Century. Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.
Imai, Masaaki. Kaizen (Ky’zen): The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986. Print.
Kim, Soyoung, “Toyota Sets US Recall of 8,000 Tacoma Pickups.” Financial Times 13 February 2010. Web.
Wakabayashi, Daisuk, Sanchanta, Mariko and Yoshio Takahashi. “Toyota Faces Fallout over Recall.” The Wall Street Journal 1 February 2010. Web.
Womack, James P., Jones, Daniel T. and Daniel Roos. The machine that changed the world: the story of lean production — Toyota’s secret weapon in the global car wars that is revolutionizing world industry. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007. Print.
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