Toyota
...g from 3 styles with 4 colors up to 18 styles. Even though the supplier tried to adapt the cars with seat defects became the major concern of the assembly plant in 1992. In fact, the manager of the assembly, Dough Friesen should focus mainly on the legitimacy of the exception in the case of the defective seats and the coordination between the plant and the seat supplier. It is reported that KFS responded with a special delivery of replacements twice a week. But still, there were cars waiting for the new seats for more than 4 days. Occasional incidents of cross threading, that is, when a team member shot a bolt at an angle were fixed easily by team leaders. There were very few incidents, which could damage the seat covering with hand tools. The hook breakage problem reported by one of the group leaders might also derivate assembly process. Consequently, the manager of the assembly should first identify those processes needing improvement. Second, he should gather more data about the problems by interviewing the personnel in details. Finally, he should analyze this data in order to figure out gaps between the standards and the current outputs. 2.) What options exist? What would you recommend? Why? We note that the signs of problems appear after TMM proliferated the number of seat styles from 3 to 18. Even though KFS operated as a part of the assembly line, all the seat parts being detected through the line from the beginning to the end, the cars have seat defects. In fact, it is not reported that the seats are delivered defective to the plant. The seats are damaged during the assembly. Hence, one of the options that the manager has is to revise seat assembly team. Another issue is to redesign or improve off-line operations in case the manager decides to continue correcting seats off-line. Also, the manager should think through the overwork that the plant has after TMM became the sole source of the Camry wagons fro the first time for Toyota worldwide. Revision of the seats design in order to control assembly defects To have multi-suppliers to lighten the burden of the only supplier who works for 18 different styles Revision of the off-line operations in order to avoid overtime work These are the possible recommendations that may be useful for the manager of the plant. Since the high level of off line vehicle inventory affects negatively the sales and most importantly the just-in-time principle of TMM. In addition, it is important to note that maintaining the quality in the long run is closely dependent on the efficiency of each step of the production process. 3.) Where, if at all, does the current routine for handling defective seats deviate from the principles of the Toyota Production System? The current routine for handling defective seats deviates from the two guiding principles of TMM. First, high level of the defective cars inventory does not apply to the just-in-time principle. It is considered a deviation of the true production, which is hence a waste given the Toyota Production Systems principles. Second, the current application is against Jidoka principle, which insists on building quality in the production process and on stopping production whenever a problem is detected. Also, two strong attitudes created within the organization - stick to th...