In General, Toyota's Foreign Plants Have Achieved Productivity Levels Essay

In General, Toyota's Foreign Plants Have Achieved Productivity Levels Similar To Those In Japan - Essay Example This system involves team and individual discipline in the assembly line operation and a paradigm shift from doing quantity production to creating quality products the first time. Toyotas culture of quality work and continuous improvement through a team-based work place as implemented by Ohno Taichi has made Toyotas manufacturing facilities and assembly lines efficient and effective. Without the aggressive implementation of these corporate values of discipline, quality and continuous improvement, Toyotas lean production system would have been a failure and productivity would not have increased. The culture of Toyota has become the company strength and competitive advantage in the automobile industry. A global corporation is defined as an organization that coordinate and integrates its activities on a worldwide basis. It offers its customers a standardized product or services. The company is a highly centralized structure. The role of local subsidiaries is to assemble and sell products developed centrally. (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1989). Toyota as a manufacturer of automobile products has highly standardized its product, manufacturing processes, and operations in all of its facilities worldwide. The production process of Japan and foreign plants of Toyota utilizes the Kanban system, a simplified assembly line called Global Body Line and supplier support system. The allocation of resources, responsibilities, and controls are centralized on a global basis towards the home-country, Japan.