Project

Toyota Motor Corporation – Unintended Acceleration Recall 5 | Page

Toyota Motor Corporation – Unintended Acceleration Recall

TIP Group

Muhammad Kamran Khan

Ozgar

Ridwan Rehman

Muhammad

Prof. John Lee

Project Presentation

Toyota Motor Corporation

1. Research and describe the company structure of the company

Toyota Motor Corporation’s organizational structure defines the patterns or arrangements in the firm’s resources and processes. This corporate structure facilitates the company’s effective and efficient business management. After the reorganization that was implemented in 2013, Toyota’s new organizational structure now has the following main characteristics:

1. Global hierarchy

2. Geographic divisions

3. Product-based divisions

· Global hierarchy: Toyota still maintains its global hierarchy despite its reorganization in 2013. However, in the current organizational structure, the company has increased the decision-making power of regional heads and business unit heads. In essence, Toyota’s decision-making processes became less centralized. Nonetheless, all business unit heads report to the firm’s global headquarters in Japan.

· Geographic Divisions. Toyota’s new organizational structure has eight regional divisions (Japan, North America, Europe, East Asia and Oceania, China, Asia and Middle East, Africa, and Latin America and Caribbean). Each regional head reports to the company’s headquarters. Through these regional divisions, the organizational structure enables Toyota to improve products and services according to regional market conditions.

· Product-based Divisions. Another feature of Toyota’s organizational structure is the set of product-based divisions. The company has four of these divisions: (a) Lexus International, (b) Toyota No. 1 for operations in North America, Europe and Japan, (c) Toyota No. 2 for operations in all other regions, and (d) Unit Center, which is responsible for engine, transmission and other related operations. This feature of Toyota’s organizational structure supports development of brands and product lines.

2. Research and describe the current state of their supply chain

Toyata supply-chain management for that Toyota’s way to capacity planning is that it strives to eliminate inventory. In achieving this objective Toyota relies heavily in pull system. Generally, the main objective is continuous improvement.

· Toyota Production System (TPS) Quality, Cost & Delivery

· Just in Time (JIT) Eliminating waste & reducing inventory through planning

· Kaizen like SixSigma but consist of eight steps

· Kanban (Inventory tracking system)

“JIT system – The elements of just-in-time system are being pro-active in exposing problems, pull production based in Kanban, Total Quality Management, elimination of waste, reducing inventory through involving suppliers in planning process, continuous improvement, improving machinery and focusing on co-operation.

Kanban each part travels with a card. New stock will only be required when that part has been used, the card is removed, using signals to re-stock this part. Kanban is well integrated in Toyota’s production system, because in Toyota there is limited number of parts with stable demand for them. Also, product mix is low and exchanges are infrequent.

Toyota Camry 2010 Recall due to unintended acceleration

Six Sigma Model Approach

Define : Toyota Camry unwanted acceleration recall in January 2010

Measure : Toyota owners filed the class-action lawsuit in 2010, alleging that the automaker's cars suddenly accelerated due to flaws in the electronic throttle control systems (ETCS). Toyota owners claimed that fatal accidents resulted from these defects. In some cases, investigators found that loose or thick floor mats had entrapped the gas pedal, causing the unintended acceleration. In other cases it appeared that the gas pedal linkage could stick in an open position leading to loss of control for the driver.

A federal judge ratified the $1.2-$1.4 billion Toyota lawsuit settlement in March 2014 while admonishing the automaker for corporate misconduct. This affects the 19 million current and former owners of Toyota.

Analyze :

1. Toyota Camry accelerator pedals sticking in floor mats this time.

2. Second recall accelerator pedals sticking in without floor mats this time.

3. Due to flaws in the electronic throttle control systems (ETCS).

Improve:

1. Cut out the floor mats under the gas paddles

2. Replace the accelerators after still acceleration without floor mats

3. Toyota upgrade the advent of electronic throttle control (ETCS), automakers have added software to program the throttle to close—and therefore cut power—when the brakes are applied.

Control:

Evaluations by Car and Driver and Edmunds found that the Camry's brakes were powerful enough to overcome the accelerator in all tests, bringing the car safely to a stop.

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Aftermath Cost - Toyota owners who claim that their vehicles are prone to sudden, unexplained acceleration announced Dec. 26 2012 that Toyota has agreed to a settlement valued $1.2 billion. Installation of a brake-override system in an estimated 3.25 million vehicles cost Toyota another $1.4 billion.

Work References

1. http://panmore.com/toyota-organizational-structure-analysis

2. https://research-methodology.net/supply-chain-management-toyota-motor-corporation/

3. http://www.supplychaintoday.com/toyota-supply-chain-management/

4. https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a16576573/how-to-deal-with-unintended-acceleration/

5. https://www.edmunds.com/car-safety/for-toyota-owners-unintended-acceleration-lawsuit-settlement.html

6. https://www.hybridcars.com/unintended-acceleration-will-cost-toyota-up-to-1-4-billion/