Toyota Takes Action to Improve Quality
Here's an interesting story from Yahoo about an automaker taking steps to deal with its quality problems:
Toyota May Delay Some New Models
OYAMA, Japan - Toyota may delay some of its new models, the company's president said Friday, as the world's No. 2 automaker tries to improve its quality control process in order to reduce a spate of recalls that is threatening its reputation.As Toyota grows and adds an increasingly complex product line, there are bound to be some quality problems but it's encouraging to see an automaker take such public steps prior to introducing models to address potential quality issues. The U.S. automakers' approach seems to be to hide quality issues and address them behind closed doors after the fact.
(Read the full story here.)
I'm still mystified why Ford and GM are still so far behind the Japanese in quality, product design, reliability, fuel efficiency, etc. Many of the Japanese autos sold in the United States are designed and built here so I don't believe it's a cultural issue. What do you think? If you disagree, then explain the decline in market share--and there's more to it than rising gas prices.
posted by Scott Paton @ 9:14 AM
8 Comments
8 Comments:
First, as a quality person you have to look at the facts.
Toyota is having quality problems only recently.
This is true if you do not count their mid-size car and small and full sized trucks. From the mid eighties to the present they have had recurring fire problems in their car line and their truck lines for the last ten years have had air bag problems which there have been massive recalls for both.
As far as reliability the Japanese have yet to prove they can handle the years and miles that American cars have put on not to mention the work vehicles they will not try to compete with except to mention other foreign car makers in their ads.
As far as the U.S. automakers hiding behind closed doors, this too seems to be misleading since they are the most watched industry in the world for quality and any problems that may occur. I will only bring up the recall for the Dodge Durango that was on one of the national television "news" shows after four ball joints failed after only 60,000 miles and no injuries or even accidents, the Toyota problems, which have only been addressed after much prodding from the government, caused many more problems and were barely mentioned in the business sections of some papers.
Since you are mostly interested in quality the latest JD Power results show the Americans entrenched in the top ten and two out of the top three.
Now if you want to address the reasons why they can offer more car for less money then look at a couple of reasons they have more cash to throw around.
They do not pay corporate profit taxes here or in Japan since the and they have received huge subsidies to build their factories in poor areas in America. Did you realize they have taken in from 150,000 to 250,000 dollars per job created? In essence they do not have to pay a worker for almost five years out of their manufacturing budget, not to mention they have not had to pay for local infrastructure improvements. That will add up to a lot of extra money floating around to show us how to run our businesses and how to downgrade the workers in our country. Even though I feel we are the best workers we can't compete with someone who does not get paid by the company but by the taxpayers of the United States.
Before I forget, product design? The Japanese have done nothing but copy designs from other automakers and call them classic Japanese designs, can you name one original design out of Japan other than the Scion box thing? The best looking car they ever designed in Japan was the 240 ZX and that was stolen from Saab. So before you mention design look closely at the mid sized cars from them and can you say good looking original, if you can then you are taken in by the nameplate and not seeing what is there.
Sorry, but I do not understand the quality hype surrounding them since they have all the advantages as far as cost outlays and a very loyal media they do not bury American cars as people like you would like us to believe, but if the media continues to act the way they have for the last twenty some years to the American auto makers then in less then twenty years there will not be an American auto maker to put down.
The fact is, however you choose to spin it, that Americans prefer to buy Japanese autos because they perceive them to have better designs, better quality, better fuel efficieny, and better reliability. I don't think blaming the media or local or state subsidies explains why Ford and GM are hemorhaging market share and losing billions of dollars. It's this same type of head-in-the-sand and blame-someone-else mentality that has put the U.S. automakers in this position.
I am sorry if I did not state my position correctly, I get wound up quickly when I think about the situation we are in.
The foreign automakers are in a position to put the American auto market in their pocket. With the money saved from the initial building of their overseas plants they have gotten the legacy issue of wages out of the equation of profit, that is roughly 1500 to 2000 dollars per car, with the infrastructure improvements from local governments they have saved more investment capital to upgrade machinery to allow faster reaction to market demands. Taking these into account allows them to set price points on new and used cars, which Detroit cannot match without grave consequences. Factor in loans they have gotten from the Japanese government at a very favorable interest rate (0.5%) and the liquid assets they have are impressive. Over twenty years ago the Japanese automakers said the only way to make a profit in America is to make the American automakers irrelevant and judging by the press they have accomplished at least a major component of that, that is not to say that Detroit has not made it's share of mistakes but this is out of their hands now and I think this may be the end of manufacturing in America as we know it.
The reason that Ford and GM are behind Toyota should be obvious ... Toyota doesn't use six sigma !
Frequency of repair statistics gathered by Consumers Reports have shown for years that Honda and Toyota have built cars that last longer than most competitors. When American cars show up with comparable statistics then I will consider the American Automobile Industry to have finally caught up with the Japanese.
The quality issues are verifiable - but so are the cost advantages enjoyed by Japanese automakers, as outlined above. It's nearly impossible to spend more money and make a better product than a company that enjoys such cost benefits while remaining profitable. "Catching up" is not the issue here. We are not dealing with technology deficiency, only time and money. This is a tremendous lead that was handed to these companies on a silver platter.
I noticed that some people blame LEGACY cost for high cost of automobiles and thus making US Automakers uncompetitive. Why didn't the automakers put the money away for the employees like they should have instead of spending it. They knew that there was going to come a time when the money would come due! Now they want to be bailed out of their irresponsiblity so that leaves the American public pays.
What is an American car company any more. GM and Ford are closing US plants and making models in Mexico. I do not blame the Japanese from taking market share with quality. Why can't Walmart do the same thing in Japan?
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