Toyota

SYNOPSIS

Case Study Analysis: Toyota production system and Kanban system

Materialization of just-in-time and respect-for-humansystem

This case basically talks about 2 very important approaches implemented by Toyota and Kanban in their respective production systems. The case explains the details of both the systems and then analyses the advantages of both. The 2 approaches under consideration are:

1. Reduction of cost through elimination of waste – just in time production and jidoka

2. To make full use of the workers' capabilities

There are 3 types of problems that exist in the automotive industry.

a) A trouble in any process will lead to an overall effect in the form of delays and time loss

b) Different models involve different processes and hence the number of variations to cope up with are more

c) Change is an important thing for each company but in the automobile industry, vehicles need to be remodeled on a large scale incorporating changes on part level

For solving these problems we the system need to use smart approaches to minimize dead stock and time delays.

First of the approaches mentioned above can be analyzed as follows:

One such method is theJust in Time (JIT) methodology which is explained as:

JIT production is when all processes produce the necessary parts at the necessary time and have on hand only the minimum stock necessary to hold the processes together. For JIT to be successful, the processes need to have a prior estimate of the resources and timing needed for processing quickly. This is also called as withdrawal by subsequent processes. The second requirement of JIT is that no process is allowed to produce extra amount and have surplus between the processes.

The main reason why inventory resulting from over production is undesirable is because it affects the overall productivity of the companies as well as the employees. Such latency of waste makes it difficult for workers to display their capability and it even...