Toyota Historical Timeline
1937 - Toyota Motor Corporation was established by Kiichiro Toyoda.
1957 - The car brand, Crown’s first prototype was exported to the United States and Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A Inc. established.
1950 - Toyota modernized their production facilities; Toyoda took the idea from Ford Motor Company plants that he visited in July of this year.
1965 - The Deming Application Prize for quality control was won by Toyota.
1967 - Their business partnership with Daihatsu Motor Co. Ltd. began.
1974 - The Toyota Foundation was established.
1984 - Toyota began productions in USA with their joint venture with General Motors.
1997 - The world’s first mass-produced hybrid car, the Prius, was launched.
2004 - Toyota publicly unveiled the Toyota Partner Robot, which is used to improve quality and reduce costs.
2010 - The Prius sales topped 2 million worldwide, and Tesla Motors agreed with Toyota to join the Electric Vehicle (EV) development.
(Toyota Motor Corporation, 2011)
Mission and Purpose
Toyota is an automobile manufacturer that has become one of the largest in the world (Datamonitor, 2010). They are “engaged in the design, manufacture, assembly and sale of passenger cars, minivans and trucks and related parts and accessories” (Datamonitor, 2010). Toyota’s mission statement is to “Make things better. A philosophy of continuous improvement. Small steps added together to make a big difference. At work. At home. In the community. Even in the world at large. Make things better is what we all strive for. At Toyota, it’s how we approach everything we do. Seeking ways to make things better. In our products. In our services. In the lives of our customers. […] A better Vehicle. ...
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Works Cited
Datamonitor, (2010, July). Company spotlight: Toyota motor corporation. Market Watch: Global Round-up, Vol. 9, Issue 7, p. 29-38.
Toyota Canada, (n.d.). Make things better.
www.toyota.ca/cgi-bin/WebObjects/WWW.woa/7/wo/Home.AboutToyota-UMrm
Toyota Motor Corporation, (2011). History of toyota.
www.toyota-global.com/company/history_of_toyota/
Toyota Motor Corporation, (2011). Non-automotive business. www.toyota-global.com/company/profile/non_automotive_business/
Toyota Motor Corporation, (2011, March 9). Toyota unveiled global vision: “Rewarded with a smile by exceeding your expectations.” www2.toyota.co.jp/en/news/11/03/0309_1.html
Vaghefi, M.R., (2002, October 3). Creating sustainable competitive advantage: The toyota philosophy and its effects. Toyota: In The Press. sysdoc.doors.ch/TOYOTA/toyotaphilosohy.pdf
the famed Model T in 1908. When Ford began putting the mass-produced cars on the market, they could offer their. cars for so much less than their competition that the co etition had to upgrade the features of their cars drastically. just to compete with them. Eventually, other car companies also. began to use assembly lines.
After two unsuccessful attempts to establish a company to manufacture automobiles, the Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903 with Henry Ford as vice-president and chief engineer. (Editors 9.) The small company produced only a few cars a day at the Ford factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit. Groups of two or three men worked on each car from components ordered in by other companies. (Yenne 45)
Schwartz, A 2011, ‘EVs Gain Traction as Toyota Prius Sales hit 3 million’, Fast Company, 9
We have determined that their business model is an Integrated Low Cost – Differentiated Strategy. It involves finding the lowest operational cost along with a unique niche or strategy that separates them from the competition. Toyota’s new statement “Moving Forward”, reflects their plans and expectations for the future. This includes the known and the unknown factors that a business must face. In 2000, Toyota launched a new cost effective strategy called CCC21 (Construction of Cost Competitiveness for the 21st century), for Low Cost operational expenses. With this aspect Toyota plans to advance such initiatives globally, based on its policy of purchasing the world’s best parts at the lowest cost with the shortest lead times.
(5) Liker, Jeffrey K. The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print.
Toyota’s uses both differentiation and low cost as generic strategies to try and gain a competitive advantage over their competitors in the automotive industry. The market scope that Toyota uses is a broad one that encompasses nearly every type of customer that is in the market to purchase an automobile. Toyota is able to target such a large market because they have something for everyone. Toyota has four wheel drive trucks and SUVs for the outdoor types or those who live in areas that face severe weather conditions, hybrid models like the Prius for the eco-friendly customers that are interested in saving the environment, along with the standard cars for general, everyday use. Additionally, Toyota provides vehicles for all price ranges.
Toyota has adopted an expansion strategy aimed at increasing the company’s market share through sustainable growth. This will be done based on the delivery of high quality, and safe cars, at an affordable price. As the company seeks to expand to new markets, focus will be on maintaining an organizational culture that allows optimum efficiency in the ever dynamic global market.
Throughout the course, I have discussed numerous aspects of Toyota Motors Corporation. This company is very successful within the automotive manufacturing industry, despite their numerous issues based on product recalls and unethical standards. Although these were serious setbacks, Toyota still remains the number one automaker in which they produced 10.08 million units in 2015 (Schmitt, 2016). In addition, the corporation has numerous strategies, practices, and policies that attributes to their success.
TMMI is located in Princeton, Indiana, which is approximately 25 miles north of Evansville on Highway 41. They first opened their doors in 1997 for the development of orientation. In February of 1998, team members started to enter the plant for the first time. In September of the same year, the supervisory program was introduced at Toyota. To begin training, group leaders were brought from the Kentucky plant, as well as from Japan, in order to instill the correct corporate culture into TMMI’s team members. Some managers of the TMMI plant were sent to Japan for training at the Toyota headquarters. Toyota of Indiana was to specialize in the production of the Tundra pickup truck and this process began in December of 1998. This was initially the only vehicle to be built in Princeton, but now the plant is being expanded to produce the new Sequoia sports utility vehicle that Toyota is adding to its line. The Siena mini van, which is currently made at the Kentucky plant, will also be produced at TMMI in the near future. When the expansion is complete, Toyota will provide work for over 4300 Souther...
Toyota Motor Corporation is one of the largest automakers in the world. At its annual conference in Tokyo on May 8, 2008, the company announced that activities through March 2008 generated a sales figure of $252.7 billion, a new record for the company. However, the company is lowering expectations for the coming year due to a stronger yen, a slowing American economy, and the rising cost of raw materials (Rowley, 2008). If Toyota is to continue increasing its revenue, it must examine its business practice and determine on a course of action to maximize its profit.
Toyota Motor Corporation is a very successful automobile manufacturer that is recognized globally. They have continued to obtain and retain a competitive advantage over their counterparts, despite recalls over many years. Regardless of recalls, Toyota has been quick to rectify their shortcomings and continue to lead within the automotive industry with their innovative measures. In this essay, I will discuss key internal factors for Toyota. Within those factors will include Toyota’s core competencies, which are what they do really well in comparison to their competition, three of their strength’s, which will include their posture within the automobile market and their heavy focus on research and development, and two of their
Toyota strives at decreasing costs while maintaining quality and increasing production and operational efficiencies. Toyota invests subsequently in several strategic areas few other car manufacturers can afford, such as hybrid engine and manufacture new cars that comply with the current ‘green trend’. Toyota also tries to expand its global presence in car manufacturing and enter new markets especially in Europe - through the mini-car market - which is mostly dominated by European brands. Toyota did a joint venture with PSA to penetrate this new segment; it already entered the luxury branch in 1989 when it launched a new brand: Lexus.
Toyota is a company that is renowned for building its reputation on quality as compared to any other auto manufacturer across the globe. Actually, the firm became the largest carmaker across the globe in 2008 when it successfully surpassed General Motors in production and sales. However, since the end of 2009, Toyota has experienced tremendous operations management issues with regards to the quality of its cars. These quality issues have had significant impacts on the identity of the company since it was forced to recall millions of vehicles because of likelihood of these vehicles to suddenly accelerate and endanger the lives of drivers and passengers. The huge product recall has posed considerable threats to Toyota’s operations, political, marketing, ethical, strategic and legal aspects at a time when the entire automotive industry is struggling. In essence, this operation management issue has threatened Toyota’s reputation and necessitates the need for a quick and effective solution through the application of operations management concepts and techniques.
Besser, T. L. (1996). Team Toyota: Transplanting the Toyota Culture to the Camry Plant in Kentucky. SUNY Press.
The nonmanufacturing companies can learn and apply from Toyota’s philosophy and practices as listed below: