Assembly Planbook - April 2008 - (Page 25) attracted widespread attention and have prompted some people to point fingers because the company has already sold more than 850 Dreamliners, making it the most successful airliner in history. To make matters worse, this is the first time that a new Boeing jet has ever been delayed by more than just a few months. Boeing is exploring new territory and trying to solve many problems at once. “They’re pushing the envelope in terms of technology and outsourcing,” says Aboulafia. “They had a very aggressive schedule. Things appear to be going better on the second aircraft.” Even more analysts and observers have been alarmed by recent developments at Toyota, which has long been synonymous with quality. Indeed, the company prides itself on zero defects. Its vehicles have an outstanding reputation for reliability and resale value. However, the automaker’s envious record has been tarnished during the last three years. Toyota’s legendary reliability has slipped slightly in recent years, according to closely watched rankings conducted by Consumer Reports (Yonkers, NY) and J.D. Power and Associates (Westlake Village, CA). In the United States, Toyota’s largest and most important market, the number of its vehicles recalled soared to more than 2 million in 2005. That was double the number of Toyota cars recalled in 2004 and more than 10 times the 200,000 vehicles recalled in 2003. But, the number of Toyota recalls in the U.S. have steadily declined since 2005. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (Washington, DC), the automaker recalled 657,308 vehicles in 2006 and 573,554 in 2007. At the same time, however, Toyota has recalled hundreds of thousands of vehicles in its home market of Japan. Last year alone, the automaker issued five different recalls in Japan to fix problems ranging from fuel pumps to steering gear. Many of the problems have affected models that are more than five years old. Manufacturing engineers must tackle quality issues on the plant floor head-on. Photo courtesy Boeing Commercial Airplanes But, quality glitches have also haunted Toyota’s new state-of-the-art assembly plant in San Antonio, which assembles the Tundra pickup truck. Its V8 engine has encountered problems such as faulty camshafts. “Most companies would like to have Toyota’s quality ‘problems.’” According to industry observers and senior Toyota executives, the primary reason for the quality lapse is the company’s aggressive expansion strategy. Toyota has grown so fast in recent years that its famous quality control system has failed to keep up. Toyota’s production in North America alone has increased 39 percent over the last five years. Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc. (Erlanger, KY) boosted vehicle and engine production to record levels at its 13 North American plants in 2007. Specifically, the automaker assembled 1,671,009 vehicles, an 8 percent increase, and 1,571,872 engines, a 10 percent increase. While trying to keep up with that record-setting pace, Toyota’s engineering staff has been overloaded. The automaker failed to hire enough engineers, despite its ambitious global expansion efforts. An analysis conducted by the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (New York) discovered that 68 percent of Toyota’s recalls in 2006 could be blamed on design flaws. Problems included rubber parts not made thick enough to withstand engine heat and joints too weak to withstand stress. Toyota is preparing to increase vehicle capacity in North America to approximately 2.2 million units by 2010, when its new plant in Mississippi opens. However, that growth may put additional stress on its ability to build-in quality on the assembly line. As Toyota continues to grow, some experts believe that its quality woes may get worse before they get better. “The company has grown an incredible amount,” says Art Smalley, president of the Art of Lean Inc. (Huntington Beach, CA) and a former Toyota engineer. “When I left, there were 70,000 people and most of them were in Japan www.assemblymag.com April 2008 / ASSE M B LY 25 http://www.assemblymag.com
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