Total Quality Management in Toyota
Introduction
Toyota is one of the world’s largest automobile manufacturers, selling over 9 million models in 2006 on all five continents. A Top 10 Fortune Global 500 enterprise, Toyota ranks among the world’s leading global corporations and is proud to be the most admired automaker, an achievement the company believes stems from its dedication to customer satisfaction. Toyota has been shaped by a set of values and principles that have their roots in the company’s formative years in Japan.
The Toyota story begins in the late 19th century, when Sakichi Toyoda invented Japan’s first power loom, which was to revolutionise the country’s textile industry. In January 1918, Sakichi founded the Toyoda Spinning & Weaving Company, and with the help of his son, Kiichiro Toyoda, he fulfilled his lifelong dream of building an automatic loom in 1924. Two years later, he established Toyoda Automatic Loom Works.
Like his father, Kiichiro was an innovator, and during his visits to Europe and the U.S. in the 1920s, he became deeply interested in the nascent automotive industry. Making the most of the £100,000 that Sakichi Toyoda received for selling the patent rights of his automatic loom, Kiichiro laid the foundations of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), which was established in 1937. From looms to cars, the Toyota experience has been shaped by extending the boundaries of manufacturing.
History
When Toyota became the first Japanese car manufacturer to venture into motor sports in 1957, Shotaro Kamiya, then president of the Toyota Motor Sales Company, encouraged his team with his belief that, “There will be no progress if you fear failure.”
The Toyota spirit
For half a century this courageous spirit has guided these pioneers and their successors. Aware of the immense task ahead, Toyota approached motor sports with a mixture of patience and ambition. Over the decades, the company’s “kaizen” method of continuous improvement proved a winning strategy. Toyota eventually
Toyota is one of the world’s largest automobile manufacturers, selling over 9 million models in 2006 on all five continents. A Top 10 Fortune Global 500 enterprise, Toyota ranks among the world’s leading global corporations and is proud to be the most admired automaker, an achievement the company believes stems from its dedication to customer satisfaction. Toyota has been shaped by a set of values and principles that have their roots in the company’s formative years in Japan.
The Toyota story begins in the late 19th century, when Sakichi Toyoda invented Japan’s first power loom, which was to revolutionise the country’s textile industry. In January 1918, Sakichi founded the Toyoda Spinning & Weaving Company, and with the help of his son, Kiichiro Toyoda, he fulfilled his lifelong dream of building an automatic loom in 1924. Two years later, he established Toyoda Automatic Loom Works.
Like his father, Kiichiro was an innovator, and during his visits to Europe and the U.S. in the 1920s, he became deeply interested in the nascent automotive industry. Making the most of the £100,000 that Sakichi Toyoda received for selling the patent rights of his automatic loom, Kiichiro laid the foundations of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), which was established in 1937. From looms to cars, the Toyota experience has been shaped by extending the boundaries of manufacturing.
History
When Toyota became the first Japanese car manufacturer to venture into motor sports in 1957, Shotaro Kamiya, then president of the Toyota Motor Sales Company, encouraged his team with his belief that, “There will be no progress if you fear failure.”
The Toyota spirit
For half a century this courageous spirit has guided these pioneers and their successors. Aware of the immense task ahead, Toyota approached motor sports with a mixture of patience and ambition. Over the decades, the company’s “kaizen” method of continuous improvement proved a winning strategy. Toyota eventually