TOYOTA STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF SUPPLY CHAIN

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The Toyota company had established the strategic plan of the management of supply chain to ensure their production system are operating in a effective and efficiently . The company try to implement and seeking the best way to control the flow of material in the physical supply to make sure their can manage all the supplier provide the raw material and component on schedule through the Toyota Production System which is the just in time concept (kanban) and (Jidoka) .

Just-in-Time

"Just-in-Time" means making "only what is needed, when it is needed, and in the amount needed." For example, to efficiently produce a large number of automobiles, which can consist of around 30,000 parts, it is necessary to create a detailed production plan that includes parts procurement. Supplying "what is needed, when it is needed, and in the amount needed" according to this production plan can eliminate waste, inconsistencies, and unreasonable requirements, resulting in improved productivity.

Kanban System

In the TPS (Toyota Production System), a unique production control method called the "kanban system" plays an integral role. The kanban system has also been called the "Supermarket method" because the idea behind it was borrowed from supermarkets. Such mass merchandising stores use product control cards upon which product-related information, such as a product's name, code and storage location, are entered. Because Toyota employed kanban signs for use in their production processes, the method came to be called the "kanban system." The “kanban system” is introduced by Taiichi Ohno . At Toyota, when a process refers to a preceding process to retrieve parts, it uses a kanban to communicate which parts have been used.

Evolution of the kanban through daily improveme

Through continuous technological improvements, the kanban system has evolved into the "e-kanban," which is managed using IT methodologies and has increased productivity even further.

 Why use a supermarket concept?

A supermarket stocks the items needed by its customers when they are needed in the quantity needed, and has all of these items available for sale at any given time.

Taiichi Ohno (a former Toyota vice president), who promoted the idea of Just-in-Time, applied this concept, equating the supermarket and the customer with the preceding process and the next process, respectively. By having the next process (the customer) go to the preceding process (the supermarket) to retrieve the necessary parts when they are needed and in the amount needed, it was possible to improve upon the existing inefficient production system. No longer were the preceding processes making excess parts and delivering them to the next process.

Jidoka (Manufacturing high-quality products)

Automation with a human touch

The term jidoka used in the TPS (Toyota Production System) can be defined as "automation with a human touch." The word jidoka traces its roots to the invention of the automatic loom by Sakichi Toyoda, Founder of the Toyota Group. The automatic loom is a machine that spins thread for cloth and weaves textiles automatically.

Before automated devices were commonplace, back-strap looms, ground looms, and high-warp looms were used to manually weave cloth. In 1896, Sakichi Toyoda invented Japan's first self-powered loom called the "Toyoda Power Loom." Subsequently, he incorporated numerous revolutionary inventions into his looms, including the weft-breakage automatic stopping device (which automatically stopped the loom when a thread breakage was detected), the warp supply device and the automatic shuttle changer. Then, in 1924, Sakichi invented the world's first automatic loom, called the "Type-G Toyoda Automatic Loom (with non-stop shuttle-change motion)" which could change shuttles without stopping operation.

The Toyota term "jido" is applied to a machine with a built-in device for making judgments, whereas the regular Japanese term "jido" (automation) is simply applied to a machine that moves on its own. Jidoka refers to "automation with a human touch," as opposed to a machine that simply moves under the monitoring and supervision of an operator.

Since the loom stopped when a problem arose, no defective products were produced. This meant that a single operator could be put in charge of numerous looms, resulting in a tremendous improvement in productivity.

Type-G Toyoda Automatic Loom, the origin of jidoka

The Type-G Toyoda Automatic Loom, the world's first automatic loom with a non-stop shuttle-change motion, was invented by Sakichi Toyoda in 1924. This loom automatic

Jidoka and Visual Control

Since equipment stops when a problem arises, a single operator can visually monitor and efficiently control many machines. As an important tool for this "visual control" or "problem visualization," Toyota plants use a problem display board system called "andon" that allows operators to identify problems in the production line with only a glance.

Nowdays, the Toyota company is a sucses company where their not keeps any inventory and storage to operate in the assembly line . The assembly line for Toyota operate the the assembly line after all the material and component arrived and delivered by all their suppliers . The organization manage all the suppliers effectively and suported by the system that implemented by the Toyota . Toyota had been a successfully company in vehicles production and manufacturer in the world .