Kaizen is so engrained in the Toyota culture and the corresponding House of Quality that internally when planned results are not achieved it is considered more of a failure of process and execution (Gong, Wang, Lai, 2009). This is where the TPS varies significantly from American-based approaches to managing variation in results and failure to attain results as well. The Kaizen approach systematically analyzes why a process did not

Decoding DNA Toyota Production System Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System In the article Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System (Spear, Bowen, 1999) (NOTE: this is OK per Harvard citing conventions to put this citation here, after the article) the authors provide a thorough analysis of what differentiates Toyota from other auto manufacturers specifically, and all manufacturers in general terms. The analysis includes key findings with regard to

LEAN TECHNIQUES APPLIED TO BUSINESS IN TODAY'S WORKFORCE Simply put, in the business sense of it, lean means creating more value using fewer resources. Therefore, a lean organization is one that focuses more on maximizing customer value with minimal waste. Its key process is mainly to produce its customer value products increasingly. Lean is about standardizing work process to make problems visible and develop the team members' critical thinking ability so

Analysis of Toyota Opportunities and Threats Toyota is the world's leading patent holder in hybrid vehicle technologies, having over 85% of all patents registered in the U.S. Patent Office, in addition to holding over forty different patents in other registries throughout Europe and Asia. This is a formidable platform for growth in this high-growth emerging line of business. Hybrid technologies can reduce carbon emissions by over 60% in the latest engine

Toyota's Strategic Opportunities And Threats Toyota Corporation (NYSE:TM) is a $226B global manufacturer of automotive vehicles including passenger cars, light and heavy-duty trucks and transportation equipment. Automotive sales globally generated $206B in their latest full fiscal year, Financial Services contributed $13.3B, delivering a Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Net Income of $4.3B (Toyota Investor Relations, 2013). The most profitable business unit is Financial Services, which is the financing division of automotive sales

This process improvement is implied in the manufacturing and the upper-level management changes, and should be prioritized as such. Another manufacturing process that Toyota needs to address and which is implicit in the previously mentioned manufacturing process is its increasing propensity to utilize parts suppliers outside of its keiretsu, which loosely translates into headless combination (No author, 2009). Keiretsu is a Japanese term for the tiered hierarchy of additional companies