Case study Toyota Motor Manufacturing

Activity Instruction

review the case study Toyota Motor Manufacturing, U.S.A., Inc. (1995) by Mishina and Takeda, and the article “What Really Happened to Toyota?” by Cole (2011).

If you were Doug Friesen, manager of assembly at the company’s Georgetown, Kentucky, plant, what would you do to address the seat problem? Where would you focus your attention and solution efforts?

• What options exist? What would you recommend? Why?
• Where, if at all, does the current routine for handling defective seats deviate from the principles of the Toyota Production System?
• What is the real problem facing Doug Friesen?
• What is your plan to solve the seat problem?
• Is the production in Toyota a lean production (defined in Chapter 16)? Why?