Tweet

Toyota Brakes and Toyota White Gloves

Written by: Bruce Razban

Article Overview: Toyota, known as the king of quality must take immediate executive action regarding the reported brake problem!

Toyota Brakes and Toyota White Gloves

Toyota Brakes and Toyota White Gloves

In 1976, I purchased my first Toyota, a Midnight Blue Toyota Corona!

In the literature that was presented, there was a nice colorful brochure and other documents. One document highlighted how Toyota, as a corporation, was quality conscious.

The colorful Toyota brochure had a picture of the exact car, the Metallic Midnight Blue Toyota Corona that I had purchased. This emotionally convinced me that I had purchased the best car I could.

Those days, I worked as a Senior Engineer in a high-tech company and Japan had become a formidable competition for us, not just in the car but also in high-tech. Several American companies had to close doors because they just could not compete with the quality and pricing that Tokyo offered.

On my first business trip to Japan, I was given the mandatory lecture by upper management on how Deming, an American Scientist who invented quality control. Then they went on to add that at that point in time, we as Americans had to learn from the Japanese quality management since they were much more advanced that we were.

In 1968, I learned driving partially on a Dodge Dart! That car was my first fascination. It had a Slant V6 engine; like Citroen it was simple and functional; however, its body styling was great too.

In that quality brochure, Toyota talked about "Quality Circles". This meant that regardless of rank, all employees in one group would stand in this circle everyday and talked any potential issue and they solved it as a team.

Most importantly, there were quality experts that wore those white gloves, and made sure quality was present at each and every step. If not, they, or any other employee for that matter, could press a button and the entire production would stop until the problem was resolved.

Toyota, according to my research for my book, "Layoffs & Hope" had not lost money, and had not laid off employees on mass, any time until the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis.

During the last few years, they did both!

After that Corona that drove for more than 125,000 miles without any problems, my family purchased at least four other Toyotas. I also helped three friends negotiate the best price in buying their Toyotas.

My Lexus, ES 250, built by Lexus Division of Toyota, has almost 200,000 miles. I was so proud of this car that I wrote an article for High Gear Media on that.

I cannot sugar code the severity of the present Toyota brake problem! If it is, as media has reported, it must be serious. Nevertheless, it is just too early to judge. Several scenarios have been occupying my mind:

• If the problem is indeed as bad as it is, then my 32 years of management consulting can conclude one thing. The recent layoffs must have reduced the Mutual Trust and Loyalty between workers, management, and customers. This, if it is the case, will cost Toyota dearly in bottom line, and brand recognition.
• If the problem is not as bad and I for the sake of Toyota workers who need their jobs and their pride, hope that it is not, then Toyota has to take proactive, precise, decisive, and timely steps to over compensate for the damage done to customers and its brand name.

In the mean time, our decision regarding buying a Toyota Prius had to be put on hold.

Related Articles
  Brand loyalty drives higher ROI and stock price
  Customer Loyalty, Brand and Expectations
  Is the U.S. Government or a competitor in charge of the Congressional hearings involving Toyota
  What can we learn from the Toyota crisis?
  Market Value is Not Determined by Wall Street

Article Tags: Brake, Layoff, Prius, problem, quality, Toyota



Related Forum Posts
Re: The Flaw In Personal Branding...? - Last time I posted, in the same week, Michael Jackson died. Then I thought about something-- If you remember Michael, he was far from flawless. Yet the biggest pop icon of all time. Having said this, the flaw in personal branding can exist as long as they're not hurting what people perceive you to be. In other words, if say... Toyota begins producing average quality cars, it'll eventually start to change the way the rest of the world thinks of Toyota. That's very dangerous. What's most overlooked though, is big companies wanting to become everything for everybody. Every time they do this, they give into the middle of the curve. What if Subaru said they'd give up AWD just so that they could sell more sedans? That wouldn't be good. If Porsche starts selling more SUVs (they already have) then get even more greedy by trying to sell trucks or vans? That would be the end of Porsche for me, by then, they're not the sports car company.
ZipCar costs - Kevin, They've got a really good selection of cars from Toyota matrix's to mini's to 4x4's to BMW's. they have a daily limit of 150km and then it's about $0.15/km. You can also rent for the full day for $76 +taxes. That's really helpful on the weekends as most Rental companies require a 2 day rental.
Re: The Flaw In Personal Branding...? - Great point. You see this happen pretty often. A big company known for one thing enters an entirely different product line and markets it under their flag brand. Big mistake! On the flip side you also see this with a lot of small businesses especially start ups. They are so afraid of limiting their potential buyers they try to be everything to everyone and end up being nothing to anyone. Porche is a great example of the value of focusing on a special buyer. No way Porche sells the number of cars that say Toyota does, but the profit per car makes it well worth the focus.
Favorite Christmas movies - Back when us kids were young (my parents had 3), my mom, sister and I would watch White Christmas every Christmas. (My dad and brother were never interested.) Now the rest of the family is scattered, and only I live close to my parents. We got away from the tradition, but now my mom and I watch [i:1h8kfk2v]White Christmas[/i:1h8kfk2v] again. (Just as every Halloween we watch Arsenic and Old Lace.) I also like the 1970 musical [i:1h8kfk2v]Scrooge[/i:1h8kfk2v], starring Albert Finney, much better than any version done since! I do have to say I've never liked[i:1h8kfk2v] It's A Wonderful Life[/i:1h8kfk2v]. He spends all his life having his hopes and dreams shattered, feeling miserable, and its only at the end of his life that he can look back and realize how many friends he has, etc. But that doesn't change the fact that up until that point he was miserable!
Book: Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead But Gutsy Girls Do - Book: Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead But Gutsy Girls Do: Nine Secrets every career woman must know Kate White 1995 Foy years Kate White lived as a good girl - a rule follower, a people pleaser, a busy beaver - until she was passed over for the job of editor-in-chief of a magazine she had been running for months. She finally realized that being gutsy, not good, was the only way to succeed. A gutsy girl : 1. Breaks the rules 2. Has one clear goal for the future 3. Does only what's essential 4. Doesn't worry whether people like her 5. Walks and talks like a winner 6. Asks for what she wants 7. Faces trouble head on 8. Trusts her instincts 9. Takes smart risks This book has NO table of contents, but above are the chapter headings. A good book, although I really wish they'd stop talking about "girls" and start talking about women.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

TOP Level Selling

Setting Goals for your Home Based Business

Executives and Elevators Perfecting That Pitch

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.