Toyota Total Quality Management Before the Second

Toyota Total Quality Management

Before the Second World War, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler were the top automobile manufacturers. In 1926, the Toyoda family made weaving machinery under the name

"Toyoda Automatic Loom Works," headed by Sakichi Toyoda. At 20 years old, he invented an automatic loom that would stop if a thread were to break. Sakichi reflected,

"The textile industry at that time was not as large as today's. Mostly, older women wove at home by hand. In my village, every family farmed and each house had a hand-weaving machine. Influenced by my environment, I gradually began thinking about this hand-weaving machine. Sometimes, I would spend all day watching my grandmother next door weaving. The more I watched, the more interested I became." (Hall)

In 1933, Toyoda branched out to create a small car division. In 1935, with workers recruited from GM, their first automobile was similar to the Chrysler Airflow. In 1936, they changed their name to Toyota. Sakichi's son Kiichiro Toyoda took over the company, and passed away in 1952 at the age of 58. (Global)

In 1947, Toyota produced the Toyopet Model SA sedan. They only made 215 of these units, but it opened the doors for Toyota to enter the small car market. (Craig)

In 1959, Toyota began producing vehicles outside of Japan. They started with a small manufacturing plant in Brazil, and then expanded to plants overseas.

Their first domestically produced model was the 1.5-liter Crown. By 1962, over one million cars had been produced. Word of mouth got around that Toyotas were very reliable, and at one point the Toyota Corolla was one of the best sellers in automotive sales history. (Russian Car Center)

This decade, Toyota offers a more than just a few styles of automobile. Current choices include models such as the Spyder, Echo, Rav4, Sequoia, Sienna, Highlander, and Tundra. Toyota now is the fourth-largest automobile manufacturer in the United States, closing in on being third. (TCM)

Besides manufacturing, Toyota has Research and Development facilities worldwide. This gives them a great presence in the major automobile markets of North America, Europe, and Japan. (Virtual)

Toyota Trucks have always been quality-made. Recently while purchasing tires, a friend told the store manager she had purchased a used Toyota pickup with 150,000 miles on it. She was a bit embarrassed, and then another customer in the store said "just 150,000? That's just a baby! They usually run for at least 2-3000 miles." This theory was part of an ad campaign years ago, featuring testimonials from Toyota owners about how many miles they had on their original engines.

Although Toyota trucks are now very large and powerful, it took the company a while to get the specifications right. Their first full-size pickup in 1993 was the Toyota T-100. (Craig). In the beginning, these models were made with either V6 or 4-cylinder engines. This didn't give the trucks enough power for pulling. V8 engines are now typical, as with the new Toyota Tundra pickup.

Many car manufacturers like GM and Chrysler have been struggling in the last decade. Toyota has instead increased its American market share, and is projected to have 19% in 2005. Toyota is close to beating Chrysler in domestic sales, thanks to the success of new models like the Lexus RX 300 and the Highlander. The Toyota Camry is still one of America's top selling automobiles. In the last five years, Toyota has experienced very rapid growth and sales seem to be on the rise. (Brauer)

With the sales of the new Toyota Matrix, Toyota is hoping to grab 11% of the United States market share. It is a goal they reached in December, and they hope to repeat it in 2002. They also offer a new design of the compact Corolla and these two models are part of their more affordable line including the Echo, and Prius gasoline/electric hybrid. The price of the new Corolla is 12% cheaper than the last model. (Vlasic)