Toyota’s Operations Management, 10 Decisions, Productivity

Toyota’s Operations Management, 10 Decisions, Productivity
Toyota Motor Corporation 10 strategic decisions areas of operations management and productivity case
study and analysis
Toyota Motor Corporation’s operations management (OM) covers the 10 decisions for effective and
efficient operations. With the global scale of its automobile business and facilities around the world,
Toyota uses a wide set of strategies for the 10 decisions of operations management, integrating local
and regional automotive market conditions. Toyota is an example of successful operations management
at a global scale. These 10 decisions indicate the different areas of the business that require strategic
approaches. Toyota also succeeds in emphasizing productivity in all of the 10 decisions of operations
management.
Toyota’s approaches for the 10 strategic decisions of operations management show the importance of
coordinated efforts for ensuring streamlined operations and high productivity at a global scale.
Toyota’s Operations Management, 10 Strategic Decision Areas
1. Design of Goods and Services. Toyota addresses this strategic decision area of operations
management through technological advancement and quality. The company uses its R&D investments
to ensure advanced features in its products. Toyota also integrates dealership personnel needs in
designing aftersales services.
2. Quality Management. To maximize quality, the company uses its Toyota Production System (TPS).
Quality is one of the key factors in TPS. Also, the firm addresses this strategic decision area of operations
management through continuous improvement, which is covered in The Toyota Way, a set of
management principles.
3. Process and Capacity Design. For this strategic decision area of operations management, Toyota uses
lean manufacturing, which is also embodied in TPS. The company emphasizes waste minimization to
maximize process efficiency and capacity utilization. Thus, Toyota supports business efficiency and cost-
effectiveness in its process and capacity design.
4. Location Strategy. Toyota uses global, regional and local location strategies. For example, the
company has localized manufacturing plants in the United States, China and Thailand, as well as official
dealerships in all markets except Mongolia and some countries in the Middle East and Africa. Thus,
Toyota addresses this strategic decision area of operations management through a mixed set of
strategies.
5. Layout Design and Strategy. Layout design in Toyota’s manufacturing plants highlights the application
of lean manufacturing principles. In this strategic decision area of operations management, the company
aims for maximum efficiency of workflow. On the other hand, Toyota dealership layout design satisfies
the company’s standards but also includes decisions from the dealers.