Quality improvement in Toyota production system
Introduction
In the ever growing competition in the automobile manufacturing, quality improvement is an inevitable part of the process. Toyota, one of the market leaders, introduced the Toyota Production System (TPS) to improve quality, increase pro...
In the ever growing competition in the automobile manufacturing, quality improvement is an
inevitable part of the process. Toyota, one of the market leaders, introduced the Toyota
Production System (TPS) to improve quality, increase productivity, and reduce the overall
manufacturing cost of its product line (Chandrakant, 1). The system is called the Toyota Way
and its effectiveness in quality improvement has become a benchmark in the market. It has done
so by creating a roadmap to set the direction in which all aspects of production should take in the
designing and manufacture of its units. This philosophy involves 5 major components, "Genchi
genbutsu", Kaizen, challenge, teamwork, and respect.
Toyota believes in the philosophy of continuous improvement of its products and processes. This
has sufficiently improved their production process, supplier management, distribution pattern
and, research innovation (Shi-Yuan Lai, Chih-Hung Tsai, Liang-Ying Wei, Rong-Kwei Li, &
Min-Jer Lu, 2). Consequently, it has it has created a stable production environment which has
seen the company's profits increase significantly over the years.
Toyota Production System (TPS)
Invented in 1918 by Sakichi Toyoda, the inventor of the automatic weaving loom, the TPS
system became the central system of Toyota's production in the early 1950s when Taiichi Ohno,
drawing inspiration from American supermarkets introduced the lean production in Toyota. This
means that same way a supermarket's shelf is restocked immediately an item is removed; the
production of units in Toyota's production lines only begins once an order has been placed. In
this way, the parts required for production arrive just in time and in the required quantities for the
production to commence. Toyota uses TPS to eliminate as much waste as possible, therefore,
leaving more room to explore and solve real problems (Shi-Yuan Lai et al, 6). The system
implements kaizen, striving for continuous improvement, by constantly training talented
personnel using the two most important of its factors namely, just in time (JIT), which keeps
ensures that each process produces only the product it's supposed to, and Jidoka, which loosely
translated is means automation with a human touch. The image below shows the TPS structure.
, Figure 1: A graphical representation of the Toyota Production System
A culture of quality
The biggest challenge to continuous quality improvement in automobile manufacturing is the
fear of team members to point out production malfunctions for fear that it will reflect negatively
on their part. Toyota has eliminated this challenge by creating a culture of quality by welcoming
improvement suggestions from team members. The company's philosophy of "Jidoka" states that
the manufacturing process must focus on ensuring that quality is inbuilt during the production
process. This leads to an on-site continuous quality improvement of every single product that
goes through the Toyota production line. Studies have shown that companies with highly
developed cultures of quality spend significantly less on production and eventually on their
entire operation (Sugimori et al, 562). By reducing the production cost with significant margins,
the TPS has more money to invest in capacity building and the development of human talents
within the company. This eventually leads to a well-implemented strategy of quality
improvement.
The TPS culture of quality has been developed over the years to benefit the three major
stakeholders of Toyota namely, the customer, employees, and most importantly the product. The
thinking behind this is that if the product is not of top quality, the customer will not be satisfied,
and consequently, the employee will not be achieving the company's objectives in accordance
with the continuous improvement philosophy.
Autonomation
Autonomation, not to be confused with automation, simply means automation with a human
touch. The strongest pillar in Toyota's quality improvement strategy is the automation of its
production machines and facilities. This means that most of them operate on their own with
minimal supervision by manufacturing workers. With enough performance power, the machines
tremendously increase the production efficiency with significant margins effectively making the
manufacturing process timely.
Automation means that machines can move and work on their own without human interference,
however, when mishaps happen, both minor and major, the machine is prone to major
mechanical damages which lead to a huge pile of unfinished production units (Govindaraju,
Majorkumar, Arunkumar Pennathur, and Anil Mital, 362). This is where autonomation comes in,
Toyota emphasizes this form of improved automation because it ensures that the machine
prevents this kind of damages autonomously, therefore, preventing mechanical damage and
ensuring that production does not stop. In so doing, Toyota's production system ensures that
inefficiencies in the manufacturing process are kept at the minimum which leads to improved
quality of its products.
Working with suppliers and dealers
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