Toyota Motor Manufacturing (TMM) began production in Kentucky in 1988. By 1992, TMM was producing the new Camry and experiencing challenges with overtime needed to meet production and defective seats causing cars to sit unfinished. The Toyota Production System (TPS) was developed after WWII to reduce costs through eliminating waste using Just-In-Time (JIT) and Jidoka principles. TMM worked with supplier Kentucky Framed Seat (KFS) but KFS failed to produce new model seats in 1991, decreasing TMM's run ratio to 85% with high off-line inventory. Solutions included outsourcing seats from multiple suppliers, backward integration, training employees, and increased collaboration.

1. Case
Study On
Toyota Motors

2. Group Members:
Mohammad Jewel
(13302129)
Shanjida Afrin
(13302127)
Abu Hashem
(13302098)
Dawlat-A-Elahi Sawrab
(13302147)
Md. Abu Kausar Bhuiyan
(13302020)

3. Background:
In 1980s Japanese auto makers contemplated building cars in North
America
In 1985 Toyota Motor Corporation(TMC) unveiled its plan to open an plant
in Kentucky costing $800 million
In July 1988, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, U.S.A (TMM) began production
on 1300 acre site in Georgetown
In 1992 TMM started producing wagon version of the new Camry
exclusively and was expected to supply 2,40,000 of the all-new Camrys

4. Toyota Motor Manufacturing,
U.S.A. Inc.
TMM was both supplying brisk sales of the new Camry and Wagon
station version
Toyota had always striven for “ Better cars for more people”
TMM was facing two challenges-
◦ Overtime had been necessary to make up lost production
◦ Growing number of cars were sitting off the line with defective seats

5. Toyota Production
System(TPS):
After Second World War, Toyota faced challenge to cut cost without
losing quality
To satisfy customer with variety, quality and timeliness, all at a
reasonable price
To answer this challenge Toyota introduce TPS
The aim of TPS is to reduce cost by eliminating waste
TPS also emphasis alerting plant people to deviation from any plant
about how production was to proceed

6. Overproduction often conceal the location of the true bottleneck
A bottleneck is one process in a chain of processes, such that its limited
capacity reduces the capacity of the whole chain
It invited investment in the wrong equipment, this results in excess capacity

7. Two Guiding Principles For
Waste Management :
To identify what was the real waste, TPS provides two guiding
principles, these are:
◦ Just-In-Time (JIT)
◦ Jidoka
TPS defined needs and value from the view of next station
down the line, i.e., the immediate customer

8. Just-In-Time: Produce what was needed, only how much was needed,
and only when it was needed. In JIT, parts were pulled from
downstream based on actual usage, rather than push from upstream.
Jidoka: This mechanism was invented by Sakichi Toyoda, “ The King of
Invention”. Make any production problems self-evident and stop
producing whenever problems are detected. The purposes this tools
were to aid immediate problem detection and facilitate visual control

9. Operations:
Assembly
Production
Control
Quality
Control
Purchase

10. Assembly:
Assembly operations were performed along 353 stations on a conveyor
line, over five miles in length
Assembly and part handling required 769 team members, four
members and one team leader in a team
If a team member lack behind the time line, he or she pulls the Andon
Core. It turned on flash light triggered loud music and lit up the work
stations address number at the andon board
The team leader rush to the work station to solve the problem if it is
correctable the team leader turn off the light by pooling andon cord
again. If the team leader cannot solve the problem he left the andon
cord on. And allow the line segment to stop at the red line. On average
Andon Cord is pulled one dozen per shift.

11. Production Control:
To follow JIT in production there are 2 practices in TMM Production
Control. This are-
Heijunka: This is Toyota's terminology describing the idea of
distributing volume and different specifications evenly over the span of
production such as a day, a week, and a month
Kanbans: Kanban means “ Signboard”. A Kanban card contains a part
code number, batch size, its delivery address and other related
information. It allows the supplier to produce the needed part a
container full to the proper address

12. The Supplier:
Kentucky Framed Seat (KFS) is the main supplier which use the
sequential pull system
TMC's advance scout team chose it as the seat supplier in 1986
TMM and KFS were located near each other
It was failed to produce the new model seats in 1991
The seats need to match each particular car therefore stock parts can’t
be used

13. Problem:
On April 27th, the run ratio of TMM was down to 85% with high level of
off-line vehicle inventory. Too many cars needed off-line operation, in
result, the sells companies wasn’t getting cars on time.
One of the main causes was seat problem which results a high level of
off-line vehicle inventory

15. Reason for decreasing run ratio
Ramp Up (Overproduction)
Off Line Problem
Overtime Became Essential
Don’t Follow The Standard of TPS
Excessive Rely on KFS
TMM Doesn’t Check The Quality of The Seats
Excessive Variations in Seat-Product Proliferation
Improper Advancement Planning
Communication Gap within TMM

16. Solutions:
Outsourcing from multiple source
Backward Integration
Train-up employees in off line to reduce error
Increase Online Production Capacity
Use a fixed trained team in KFS to monitor the production
Placement of a Permanent KFS team at TMM to repair the defective seats
on assembly line
Less variation on seat (Focus Strategy)
Increase collaboration among Toyota Motor world wide network
Full automation in production

17. Recommendations:
For Seat Problem:
◦ In House Production or Backward Integration
◦ Fully Automation Would Increase Run Ratio