The series of problems started in October 2009 when the first recalls occurred. It was discovered that incorrect floor mats under the driver seat could be the potential problem that caused unwanted and unpredictable vehicle acceleration causing deadly accidents. Also, it was discovered that some vehicle models had issues with sticky gas pedals causing unexpected acceleration, which caused eventually more recalls. All these vehicles recalls have raised questions about the quality of products and quality management that Toyota has been preaching for years, being the role model
Tesla Motor’s product launch Team A MKT 571 December 12, 2012 Dr. Duane Scott Executive summary The mission statement for Tesla Motors is Tesla Motors designs and sells high performance, super efficient electric cars. Tesla Motors cars join style, acceleration, and handling with advanced technologies that make them the quickest and the most energy-efficient cars on the planet ("Tesla Motors", 2012). Tesla Motors in 2003. Tesla’s goal is to take the world into a transition to electric cars; there will be a variety of affordable electric cars. The Tesla technology offers an efficient path to a sustainable energy future.
“Totally transformed” is the slogan of this advertisement that represents their hard work. Most of the time, a car commercial seems to be not effective at all. Purchasing a car is a huge investment since no consumer is going to buy a car just because of a single advertisement. The purpose of car commercials are there just to further entrench a company’s brand and image into consumers’ minds, and make sure that their name appears in their retrieval set. The retrieval set is really important to car companies because it determines whether their newly produced cars will sell well or not.
Curled Metal Inc. Executive Summary Situation Analysis and Main Problem - CMI is a well established company in the automotive market that is about to launch a new product. The new CMI’s cushion pads have tested very well in field tests conducted by the company and now its managers must decide how to penetrate this new market. The pads main competitor product are the aluminum pads, many companies manufacture them and some construction companies even do it themselves. There are no organized channels of selling and distributing the product and CMI must decide for themselves how to sell the product and at what price. EVC analysis (Appendix A) shows that the new pad’s EVC is ~$4,500 and CMI must now decide on how to price the new product as to distribute the value between themselves and the customers.
Monozukuri, in Japanese, translates to something along the lines of the creation of products. The true meaning behind the word is more conceptual. Monozukuri means to produce excellent products and to have the ability to constantly improve a production system and process. This is the driving force behind one of the world’s most successful companies, Toyota Motor Corporation. The principles of monozukuri along with kaizen, meaning a change for the better, have driven Toyota to become one of the leading automobile manufacturers in the industry.
“Going off site inevitably made executives anxious”. Adam Gryglak, the chief diesel engineer for Ford delivered an all new ford engine that was classified as an “impossible task”. Through strategic planning, team corporation, group performance and a change in culture and lifestyle, Adam Gryglak was able to deliver an assignment that made executives “anxious” and in previous years “tended to look unkindly on heterodoxy”. The project nicknamed “Scorpion” was a success which was contributed by a degree of factors, the underlying being trust. Without the trust of the hierarchy of Ford managers the project wouldn’t have been delivered or achieved in the manner it was.
Quality Control at Toyota Introduction There are several key issues that need to be addressed in order to turn around Toyota’s quality control department, from restoring morale and commitment to making pragmatic changes to processes and communication structures in order to directly facilitate more effective operations. In order to successfully carry out the position of Vice President and contribute to the development and progress of the Toyota company as a whole, careful consideration of these issues, projections of necessary and potential changes, and methods for achieving these changes must be undertaken. The following paragraphs detail six area of specific concern or required attention that relate to the task at hand, containing suggestions for the steps that should be taken in order to turn this department around and the organizational/interpersonal approaches that will best ease and facilitate the implementation of these steps. Goals Short-term goals for the quality control division must include an improvement in morale within six months, as measured through both qualitative (interviews, meetings, surveys, etc.) and quantitative (retention rates, complaint/issue frequency, etc) means.
Confidence's Cost to Collaboration The corporate formula for innovation often focuses on creating a team of experts to cook up the next big thing. Groups of managers -- typically composed of individuals from a variety of fields, including engineering, marketing and operations -- band together to develop new products or services that can create top-line growth. In a recent paper, Wharton management professor Jennifer Mueller and Wharton lecturer Julia Minson looked at the dark side of teamwork -- the tendency of those groups to become insular and less efficient as they grow in complexity. In "The Cost of Collaboration: Why Joint Decision-making Exacerbates Rejection of Outside Information," Minson and Mueller found that people working in pairs were more likely to dismiss outside input than individuals working alone. Mueller
Bait and switch tactics are very rampant in the car industry and usually by the time a consumer views the ad—bait, the car is already sold. In this case they told Betty that Jim, who works in the service department, had purchased the car at 6 a.m. that morning, but offered to show her another car in which they would discount $1,000 due to the distance she drove—switch. Bait and switch sales tactics are a form of false or deceptive advertising, in which a car dealer lures potential buyers to the dealership by advertising one vehicle at a certain price, then tells the customer that the particular vehicle is no longer available. They also use aggressive tactics to sell a different, more expensive vehicle or the advertised vehicle at a price higher than the advertised price. Because the vehicle was sold and because the dealership notated the specific serial number in the ad for the one truck that they were selling for $11,399.00, the dealership is not obligated to sell any additional cars at this advertised price and the they are not required to perform in accordance with the published advertisement When Tony said over the phone “three thousand dollars firm,” explain whether or not he was making an offer that, if accepted, would bind the
What was once a luxury item became a common commodity, no longer was Autoliv able to charge a premium on airbags which led to “price erosion” (Roussel and Cohen, 40). This issue combined with a supply chain flailing to keep up with production demands, being non homogenous, and declining economic factors led Autoliv to a hard place. Standardized Production In response to the issues Autoliv was facing, Autoliv decided to employ the assistance of their biggest client, Toyota. Toyota created TPS (Toyota Production System), which is the precursor to the lean methodology or lean manufacturing. Toyota also saw the value in assisting Autoliv, because if Toyota assists its suppliers it will upgrade their own supply chain which Toyota views as an asset.