Toyota
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In April 2001 the Toyota Motor Corporation adopted the "Toyota Way 2001," an expression of values and conduct guidelines that all Toyota employees should embrace. Under the two headings of Respect for People and Continuous Improvement, Toyota summarizes its values and conduct guidelines with the following five principles: According to external observers, the Toyota Way has four components: The Toyota Way incorporates the Toyota Production System. Toyota has long been recognized as an industry leader in manufacturing and
* Kaizen (improvement)
* Genchi Genbutsu (go and see)
* Respect
* Teamwork
Toyota Production System
production. Three stories of its origin have been found, one that they studied Piggly-Wiggly's just-in-time distribution system, one that they followed the writings of W. Edwards Deming, and one that they were given the principles from a WWII US government training program (Training Within Industry). It is possible that all these, and more, are true. Regardless of the origin, the principles described by Toyota in its management philosophy, The Toyota Way, are: Challenge, Kaizen (improvement), Genchi Genbutsu (go and see), Respect, and Teamwork. As described by external observers of Toyota, the principles of the Toyota Way are: Toyota has grown to a large multinational corporation from where it started and expanded to different worldwide markets and countries. It displaced GM and became the world's largest automobile maker for the year 2008. It held the title of the most profitable automobile maker (US$$11 billion in 2006) along with increasing sales in, among other countries, the United States. The world headquarters of Toyota are located in its home country in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. Its subsidiary, Toyota Financial Services sells financing and participates in other lines of business. Toyota brands include Scion and Lexus and the corporation is part of the Toyota Group. Toyota also owns majority stakes in Daihatsu, and 16.7% of Fuji Heavy Industries, which manufactures Subaru vehicles. They also acquired 5.9% of Isuzu Motors Ltd. on November 7,
Operations