Toyota quality

This is a nice business week article but more than a bit of a puff piece. Toyota manufactures quality cars but the relationships with suppliers are actually quite feudal and employess of suppliers are not treated to the same sort of wages and benefits as Toyota employees. This has been well documented elsewhere. Being that 80% of a Toyota is manufactured by these outside suppliers, they are more masters of logistics than manufacturer. All well and good, but examined further, you would find that they have much more in common with Walmart or perhaps Dell (another non-manufacturing logistics company) than with GM or Ford. Don't think that GM and Ford don't understand this. It is just that they are locked into union contracts and pensions that prevent them from moving towards this model very quickly. Toyota has set the trend however and US auto workers of the future will not have nearly the lifestyle they have enjoyed. That is if the companies are able to survive the transition. Every Toyota bought in the US is one more vote against that potiential survival.

Those companies are run by engineers. American companies are not. Don't you mean American car companies are not?

Toyota's success story is being studied and followed by much of corporate America. The company I work for follows principles of Kaizen in every area of production, distribution and customer service.
Kaizen, literally: "good change," is based on incremental improvement with full input and participation of workers at every level of the company. It's worked wonders for both our bottom line and employee morale. Check out this book by James P Womack, Daniel T Jones and Daniel Roos if you're interested in the story of how Toyota changed the the world by changing the way they think about work. It's fascinating!

Having sold Toyotas, I can tell you there are quality issues. There are quality issues with all vehicles. This is no better than a Mac/Windows debate. In both cases, people choose their respective things for whatever reason they want and look past the problems. When we speak of vehicles, there isn't a whole lot of difference. Does Toyota have different steel than everyone else? Do they have different plastic molding than everyone else? No. What $20,000 buys you between the various brands is pretty close to the same thing. Move up to $30,000, and you start seeing some differences. Move up to $50,000, and you see a ton of differences. What remains true is that the single greatest factor in determining vehicle life is the owner. What he does or fails to do will have far greater impact than any emblem glued on to the hood.

"Japanese car companies don't care what the customer thinks he wants..." I think Toyota builds quality automobiles, and have clearly impacted the industry with their engineering processes and management style. However, they (like any smart company) keep marketing near the top of the priority list. We can't overlook their adaptation to the American consumer in areas such as V8 pickups, larger SUVs in their lineup, etc. on their march to #1.

I just bought a Honda Accord based on its reliability rating (plus I got a good deal). My old car, a 1993 Mercedes Benz, needed frequent and expensive repairs. It was turning into a money pit, and I wasn't saving anything by driving an old beater. I'd gotten so sick and tired of taking my car to the shop that I decided reliability would be the most important factor in buying my new car. And you just can't beat Honda for that. I don't know how they do what they do, but I'm glad they do it, even if I am driving a Tokyo Taurus.

Of course all car companies have quality problems, but some have fewer than others. Toyota has consistently outperformed American companies on measures of quality, like th J.D. Power surveys. Recently, GM has improved, but for too long, American companies had other priorities than improved quality and fuel efficiency. Now they are experiencing the consequences of that (and of the higher legacy healthcare costs for their employees).

Your 93 Benz was 14-15 year old. Doesn't seem like a fair comparison, does it? My only point was that I'd had enough of having to mess around with repairs. Had I bought a new or slightly used American car, I wouldn't have expected it to have nearly the problems my old Benz did. I just wanted to express why I looked at reliability ratings above anything else when I went to replace it.

That is why I compared it to a typical Windows/Mac debate. People justify their choices. M.Z., not me. I have ripped apart vehicles from Toyota/Ford/GM. I do all my own auto work. I'm a engineer; I've never read a single marketing bit and don't have a TV so I've no idea what everyone is saying. I have no bias; I currently own a Ford 'cause I got a great deal on it. I've owned GM, Toyota, Honda, Ford from every decade and done all my own work on them. There is a good reason why Toyota is #1, and Honda and Subaru not far behind. And it ain't marketing. Consumer Reports and customers agree. It's superior engineering and serious attention to detail. However, they (like any smart company) keep marketing near the top of the priority list. Very true. They shamelessly pimp their cars, but the car still comes first. We can't overlook their adaptation to the American consumer in areas such as V8 pickups, larger SUVs This is a classic example. Look how slowly they creeped forward on these vehicles, and how much money they lost going so slow. I remember the whining from people wondering where the Toyota minivan/full-sized truck/van were, while the US cranked them out. I have a friend who owns a Ford right now because Toyota won't build an extended-cab full bed truck. And you know why they won't build it? Because it's an engineering monstrosity, can't handle or drive well enough for them. So this is a classic case where Toyota ignores the (very rich) profit just to maintain standards. I carry no water for the Japanese. But I give credit where it is due. Them dudes can engineer.

M_David, I love Toyota. I own a Corolla, bought it new with six miles on the odometer. Today, it has 87,000 and, aside from routine maintenance, I have never experienced a single problem with it. I used to buy American, but I found them to be too unreliable.

SVS: Aren't crunchies opposed to globalization Don't know. Good question, though. I wouldn't miss coffee when we shut the borders, but sure would bananas and spices! and in favor of supporting high-paying jobs for locals? Who isn't? One thing, though. There are no auto plants within 1000 miles of me, so what are we calling local? And where do we draw the line? Chinese tennis shoes? Canadian beef? Saudi oil? Ten to one you've used each of these products without even knowing or caring.
That's the US auto industry in spades. Every car contains lots of parts mostly produced in the US. US auto companies have zero loyalty to US made parts. If we were to look inside a typical American car, we would see Mexican, Canadian, Korean, you name it, parts. I remember seeing a Mexican part in a Ford back in the 80s. Not to mention the steel, oils, plastics, and other raw materials come from all over the world - and the consumer really has no way of knowing. If US car companies had any loyalty to the US, they would be shafting their shareholders. Their loyalty is to profits (they just haven't done so well at this lately, though). Even when the Japanese assemble a car here, lots of the parts are imported. Sort of like Ford or GM...
Once we have NAFTA and GATT, I think the "country loyalty" game is up. Everyone's job is on the line, for all types of products; we are all competing internationally. But I'm curious; two questions:
1) Are you making a patriotic pitch or a Crunchy pitch? E.g., if I lived on the border and had a product closer in the other country, would you recommend that, or going a longer distance to stay with your own country? 2) How protectionist should we be? What would you recommend?

PS BTW Rod: Last week, on 4/19 at 10:30, Dreher said: "Gonzales will be gone by this time next week". "Gone" was a typo...Rod meant to type 'done'. (Could I be the next Scott McClellan or James Carville?) And so Alberto is; 'done', but the Prez doesn't realize it. Gonzales is done, but Bush is leaving him on the flames, and the result is that several people will become burned rather than one. Hang around and watch what blackened mess ultimately comes off that grill. These guys are lightweight bit-player fools with a lot of power....scary...like watching toddlers in a sea of electrical wires.

In Japan, executive take pride in their company and bonus come with time & success. In the USA, executives are compensated astronomically no matter what the condition of the company is.

I've always driven American cars. After I forgot my father's experience with his Ford Tempo, I got a Taurus. By the time that vehicle had 80K miles on it, I had spend almost $3000 on repairs with another $2000 needed. I sold it for dirt and bought a Corolla with a reputation for getting 200K miles on it. Sadly I said good bye to purchasing only "American" cars not because "foreign" manufacturers make better cars, but because the term American no longer applies. Many American automakers have foreign ownership, close factories in the USA and invest in such facilities in other countries while at the same time foreign automakers are building factories in the USA and employing American workers who make good wages and benefit.
The definition of American and foreign companies have blurred to the point that I have no problem buying the most reliable car with the best resale value and fuel economy that's within my budget. If that happens to be Toyota, Hyundai, Honda, Volkswagon rather than Ford or GM then so be it.