Understanding Operations Logistic and Supply Chain Management

Understanding Operations Logistic and Supply Chain Management
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Running head: LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN

LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................2
Company introduction.................................................................................................................2
Managing Quality........................................................................................................................3
JIT, Lean and Agility...................................................................................................................4
Triple Bottom Line of Toyota......................................................................................................6
Recommendations........................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9
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LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN
Introduction
Operations management is defined as the administration of business practices for creating
highest level of efficiency within an organization. It is concerned with converting materials and
labour into goods and services in most effective and efficient way to maximize the profitability
of an organization. Further, Logistics is defined as the management of flow of things between the
point of origin and consumption to meet requirements of customers. There are various concepts
and theories of operation management which helps an organization to improve its operational
efficiency such as just in time, lean and agile manufacturing, total quality management etc. The
current report focuses on effective implementation of various operations management concepts
and techniques in Toyota Motor Corporation, various benefits which are associated with it. The
report also focuses on triple bottom line approach of Toyota Motor and its effectiveness and also
provides recommendation for improvement of profitability of organization in global market.
Discussion
Company introduction
Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese automobile manufacturer company established in 1937
by Kiichiro Toyoda. The company is the largest manufacturer of automobile in the world in
terms of volume. It manufactures and sells vehicle and spare parts all over the world and
operates its business globally. The company has 53 overseas manufacturing facilities based in 28
countries globally.
The first topic which has been selected is Managing Quality as it is a vital component of
operations management and it is very important for organizations to ensure quality of products
during production process to ensure that final product is at par with company standards and also
satisfies quality requirement of customers.
The second topic which has been selected is Just in Time, lean and agile as these are various
important components for improving operational efficiency of organizations. The Just in time
concept helps in ensuring that products are available to customers at right time when they require
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LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN
and lean and agile manufacturing ensures that production process of company is sustainable in
nature.
Managing Quality
As opined by Song-Kyoo (2015) Total Quality Management is defined as approach towards
management of quality which started in 1950s and has become popular from 1980s. Total
Quality Management implies that organizational culture is defined by and constantly supports
achieving of customer satisfaction by combined system of tools, techniques and training. It is
accompanied by continuous improvement of the processes of an organization, which results in
products and services of high quality.
As stated by Netland and Sanchez (2014) the objective of implementing Total Quality
Management in organizations is to improve their processes, prevent defects of product, prioritize
efforts, develop cause-relationships, measure system capacity, develop improvement check-list
and check forms enables better decision making in teams, develop definitions of operations,
separate trivial issues from significant needs and observe behaviour changes over a time period.
As opined by Phogat and Gupta (2019) Toyota has revolutionized the automobile industry by
implementing concept of total quality management which helps them to make high quality
products and enhances customer satisfaction. Toyota decided to implement total quality
management when it found that the company was manufacturing defective products as a result of
wear and tear that was caused due to accumulation of dirt. As stated by Randhawa and Ahuja
(2018) at that time, Toyota workers followed American practice in which they operated a
machine until it completely breaks down and after that they called engineers to fix the machine
or at time threw it away, which impacted manufacturing of defective parts or products by
machine and lack of productivity of workers. Therefore in order to address this issue, Toyota
implemented Total Quality Management.
As stated by Lahidji and Tucker (2016) for Toyota, Total Quality Management is based on the
idea of “customer first”, kaizen or continuous improvement and total participation which refers
to the involvement and input of all the employees. In 1951, Toyota launched the Creative Idea
Suggestion System for supporting and encouraging the employees towards making significant
contribution towards company development. Toyota also introduced Statistical Quality Control
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