Unless you live in a cave, don’t listen to the news, don’t read the paper and don’t get online you are aware of Toyota’s current “quality” challenge in dealing with millions of recalled vehicles. The question is, how will Toyota recover from this one?
It’s funny, I’ve never had a Toyota. My husband is committed to buying only American when it comes to purchasing cars, but secretly I always wanted a Camry. The reason is, there is a common “perception” that Toyotas are economical, made with the highest quality, have the fewest maintenance issues and “last forever”.
This perception was developed over decades of Toyota building superior quality cars and establishing a very loyal customer base. Their quality practices have been the benchmark for US car makers and they have consistently led the pack on manufacturing practices of cost savings and quality.
So what happened here? According to Mr. Toyoda, the president of Toyota, “we pursued growth over the speed at which we were able to develop our people and our organization. I regret that this has resulted in the safety issues described in the recalls we face today”.
Mr. Toyoda also stated that Toyota got their priorities mixed up. Toyota’ priorities are:
1. Safety
2. Quality
3. Volume
So how did the third priority become the first for Toyota and what can we learn from this?
It is conceivable that Toyota saw other car manufactures catching up to them in the areas of quality and fuel efficiency. This pressure may have been what drove the switch from safety to volume.
This is a good lesson for all organizations to make sure their priorities line up with their business goals. Organizations should keep a pulse on what they are trying to achieve and how they plan to achieve it. The buck needs to stop somewhere and the boards of these large international companies need to be involved in ensuring that priorities are in line with day-to-day operations and that customer complaints are taken seriously.
This has been a black eye for Toyota but I have confidence that they will rebound and be a better organization because of it.
The reason I think this is:
- They acknowledged the problem. Some would argue that they knew about it a long time before they acted on it and that is valid.
- They developed and launched a masterful image recovery plan.
- They stopped production to manage the massive recalls.
- They developed a marketing campaign to communicate their apologies and commitment to improving – basically begging their customers to not abandon them.
- But more than anything, I believe their long-standing reputation for building quality products will allow forgiveness for this one.
I guess only time will tell.
So what about the Toyota fans out there, what are your thoughts on this?
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They wanted GM first place now look where they are at the same place was GM 2 years ago.
All company should manage their business why be No 1 I prefer to be No 3 and be the best not No 1 by cheating.