Managing the Automation Industry Essay

Tags: supply chain management total quality management general motors supply chain inventory management quality management lean manufacturing project management automotive industry problem solving management manufacturing business car operations productivity economy transportation stock philosophy

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Total Length: 4092 words ( 14 double-spaced pages)

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Introduction

The automotive industry segment within the economy of the United States is a fundamental employer as well as a key donor of the American Gross National Product. The automotive industry segment is one that faces intense and comprehensive competition not only locally but also internationally. In recent times, the automotive industry has experienced deterioration in the revenues and profits generated and a decline in the market share as well as a lack of major employment opportunities. Within this similar timespan, the automotive industry has experienced major problems owing to the increases in the level of importation of vehicles and their corresponding parts from Europe and Asia as they have attained a greater market share as well as sales volumes. The purpose of this report to is to examine the different strategies and tactics employed by General Motors and Toyota Motor Corporation. These two companies are some of the biggest automotive companies within the United States. Specifically, the report will examine the corporations’ supply chain management, inventory management, quality control, project management, and lean operations.

Background of the Companies

General Motors is one of the biggest automotive companies not only in the United States but also across the world. The company’s international center of operations is situated in the state of Detroit. General Motors conducts its manufacturing processes and has facilities situated in 33 nations across the globe. Notably, the locations of General Motors’ are strategically situated and play a pivotal part on where to position facilities for production as well as design. The company manufactures key vehicle brands such as Cadillac, GMC, Saturn, Buick, Saab, Pontiac, as well as Chevrolet. Statistics indicate that General Motors was able to manufacture and retail 8.4 million cars and trucks worldwide. The company’s operations encompass designing, manufacturing as well as marketing of passenger vehicles, trucks, and locomotives. What is more, the company also undertakes the manufacturing of associated vehicle parts and accessories (General Motors, 2018).

From its establishment, Toyota has been in the quest for contributing to a more successful society by means of the manufacturing of automobiles, conducting its business with an emphasis on the production and sales of vehicles. The founding of Toyota begun in 1933 with the corporation being a department of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works committed to the manufacturing of vehicles under the guidance of Kiichiro Toyoda, the founder of the head company. A year later, the department manufactured its very first Type A Engine that was employed in the initial Model A1 passenger car and G1 truck. Three years later in 1937, Toyota Motor Corporation was instated as an autonomous and distinct company. Since then, the company has developed to be one of the biggest automotive companies in the world. The center of operations is situated in Aichi in Japan. In the contemporary, the company employs more than 360,000 personnel and reported sales of 2,129,383 in the 2017 financial year (Toyota Global, 2018).

Supply Chain Management

General Motors

The supply chain of General Motors encompasses more than 21,000 businesses all over the globe and the company spends just about $90 billion, which is almost over 60 percent of the automotive expenses on approximately 200,000 product items. This signifies an assortment of raw materials, supplies, transportation and freight and is rendered to more than 30 nations (General Motors, 2018). Supply chains founded on strong, apparent and trustworthy affiliations are pivotal to making certain that consumers accomplish product quality, accessibility and affordability. Imperatively, these affiliations are pivotal to enhancing General Motors’ business competitiveness and diminishing the business risks being faced. In addition, this positions General Motors as a consumer of choice, facilitating the company in the transformation of transportation by working in tandem with suppliers to attain solutions for the problems faced within the automotive industry (General Motors, 2018).

What is more, the company makes certain that the supply chain is constructed on accountability and integrity values. General Motors endeavors to make certain that the suppliers within its supply chain acknowledge and share these philosophies (General Motors, 2018). Internationally, the company conducts several workspaces together with training to augment supplier operations, fundamentally in terms of efficacy, environmental management, workplace situations, and ethics and also the rights and freedoms of persons. In addition, General Motors assimilates localization in its supply chain management. The company builds plants where it sells them and also purchases them where the company builds in order to make the vehicles more competitive owing to price benefits and also can be constructed to satisfy distinctive local necessities that impel consumer interest and brand loyalty.

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Moreover, this diminishes risks by augmenting the flexibility of the supply chain to react to interruptions instigated by different causes (General Motors, 2018).

Toyota

Supply chain management within Toyota Motor Corporation is a component of the corporation’s operations tactic, which is comprehensively centered on the Toyota Production System (TPS). Toyota Motors is renowned for not only being part of the establishment but also advancement of total quality management (TQM). For the company, TQM is centered on the notion of consumer first, also referred to as kaizen, which implies incessant improvement and overall participation the inference of which is the participation and input of the entire staff. The automotive company has incorporated statistical quality control in addition to the system of creative idea suggestion in order to provide backing and inspiration to personnel in making efficacious contributions to the organization’s quality development. These notions are at the heart of Toyota production system and have resulted in greater levels of quality for end-products and work processes and enhancement in all elements of the company, ranging from individuals to services rendered. The Kaizen concept of quality management endeavors to eradicate waste and excessive production in addition to the creation of an administrative system in which any personnel can recommend change at any given turn. What is more, the approach employed by Toyota lays emphasis on longstanding enhancements instead of temporary ones (Toyota Global, 2018).

Supply chain management is a feature for any corporation to be examined in a comprehensive manner so as to ascertain ways to enhance it. Enhancement in supply chain management can diminish outlays for a business and proliferate the efficacy and necessitates a strategic method to be carried out towards it. It is imperative to note that Toyota Motor Corporation is at present one of the prototypical businesses internationally in several features of shepherding a prosperous business practice, as well as supply chain management. Toyota Motors makes use of the philosophies of Just in time, Kanban, lean manufacturing, Kaizen in addition to others, which provide competitive advantage for the organization and provide effectiveness in numerous business functions in consort with supply chain management (Iyer, Seshadri, and Vasher, 2009).

Quality Management

General Motors

Being one of the biggest automakers in the globe, General Motors has to incessantly come up with approaches of augment value and diminish waste all the way through its supply chain. Akin to several manufacturers within the automotive industry, the company faces pressure to be innovative and at part with the increasing test of meeting demands for ever enhanced, faster, and economical products. In recent times, owing to first-time problems regarding the recalling of vehicles, General Motors huddled up its most inventive personnel together with supplies to formulate strategies as an element of a multi-pronged initiative for quality enhancement. Consequently, at the onset of the 2016 financial year, the company started making a changeover for its suppliers from the prevailing supplier quality program referred to as Quality Systems Basics (QSB) and instigating them into the Built In Quality Supply Base (BIQS), which is a more potent program. Through this initiative, the automotive company is able to hold its supplies to several quality benchmarks that it undertakes for its internal quality endeavor (The Luminous Group, 2016).

Built In Quality Supply Base comprises of the most ideal practice quality management approaches that can be utilized in any setting to making longstanding enhancements in quality. An example of a quality element strategy takes into account making use of a layered audit process that comprises of the ascertainment of frequency, scheduling, outcomes, and corrective measures. Based on the benchmarks of General Motors, the layered audit process appraises the compliance of the supplier to the standardized practices, ascertains prospects for continuous improvement, and also encompasses consumer-distinct and quality-oriented checks appraised by all layers as well as management. In addition, through this process, the management are given the task of making certain that efficacious corrective measures and counter measures are instituted. Another approach is the execution of a quick reaction, problem solving process with everyday monitoring. Based on General Motors’ requirements, it is imperative for the supply to present proof that well-timed and comprehensive problem solving methods are practiced on aspects dealing with safety and quality. Instead of espousing the problem at face value, Fast Response necessitates confirmation and substantiation that suspicious parts are kept in check, a well-organized root cause search is….....

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References

Babcock, C. (2006). GM Implements New Parts Inventory Management System. Information Week. Retrieved from: https://www.informationweek.com/gm-implements-new-parts-inventory-management-system/d/d-id/1041645

General Motors. (2018). History & Heritage. Retrieved from: https://www.gm.com/company/history-and-heritage.html

Harris, L. (2007). Lean Manufacturing Made Toyota the Success Story it is Today: Investing in our Economy. Capacity Magazine. Retrieved from: http://www.rcbi.org/index.php/viewarticle/130-capacity-magazine/spring-2007/features/336-lean-manufacturing-made-toyota-the-success-story-it-is-todayinvesting-in-our-economy

Iyer, A. V., Seshadri, S., & Vasher, R. (2009). Toyota supply chain management: A strategic approach to Toyota\'s renowned system. McGraw Hill Professional.

Master Control. (2012). Automotive Quality Control and Assurance Software Systems. Retrieved from: https://www.mastercontrol.com/quality-management-software/quality-control/automotive.html

Nazaruk, A. (2015). Project Management Methodology: Kanban. Retrieved from: https://explore.easyprojects.net/blog/project-management-methodology-kanban

Peavler, R. (2018). Just-in-Time Inventory Management. The Balance Small Business. Retrieved from: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/just-in-time-jit-inventory-management-393301

The Luminous Group. (2016). Three Key GM BIQS Controls Every Organization Should Implement. Beacon Quality. Retrieved from: https://www.beaconquality.com/blog/three-key-gm-biqs-controls-every-organization-should-implement

Theodore Farris, M., & Hutchison, P. D. (2002). Cash-to-cash: the new supply chain management metric. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 32(4), 288-298.

Toma, S. G., & Naruo, S. (2017). Total Quality Management and Business Excellence: The Best Practices at Toyota Motor Corporation. Amfiteatru Economic, 19(45), 566.

Toyota Global. (2018). History of Toyota. Retrieved from: http://www.toyota-global.com/company/history_of_toyota/

Toyota Global. (2018). Producing Quality: Quality Assured in every vehicle. Retrieved from: https://www.toyota-europe.com/world-of-toyota/feel/quality/producing-quality

Toyota Global. (2018). Quality Assurance Activities. Retrieved from: http://www.toyota-global.com/company/history_of_toyota/75years/data/company_information/quality/quality_assurance.html

Toyota Global. (2018). Total Quality Management (TQM): Changes and Innovations. Toyota Website. Retrieved from: http://www.toyota-global.com/company/history_of_toyota/75years/data/company_information/management_and_finances/management/tqm/change.html

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