Falsehood of Toyota quality

For decades now the urban myth in America has been that foreign automobile manufacturers, particularly Toyota, have some quality genii that sets them apart from their American competition. The fact is really more complicated than that.

Toyota is fames for it TPS : a supposedly quality driven production system. The problem is TPS is not really about quality, but rather about efficiency and profit maximization.

True, many followers of Lean Manufacturing will claim there is a great emphasis on quality, but they will also explain that Lean prefers a just-in-time quick turn-around fix to an elaborate over analytical approach favored in Six Sigma, which was  first proposed  at Motorola. Indeed Toyota TPS is just a modern version of Ford’s Just-In-Time, but its proponents; often arming themselves with Japanese words like Kaizen and Jidoku will make you believe otherwise.

I first came across the Toyota myth after purchasing my first Lexus. It was brand new (so I know the entire history) and within 45 days, I had my first incidence. The Lexus dealer and mechanic swore I was dreaming about the shocks and vibrations from brake I felt at high speed (50/60 mph). They could never replicate the vibrations or any of the sounds. But a year or so later, they quietly replaced my drive box as part of a never announced recall.

The dealership have developed a smart way of making it seem like any defect with the automobile is a phantom of the driver’s imagination, until a fatal accident recently exposed a problem in manufacturing that has been allowed to fester for ever.

True, JD Power and Associates ranking for years managed to place Toyota (and Lexus in particular) at the top of the pack for quality, but as it will soon be shown; the rank is mostly a game of perception management and not actual value.

Toyota (and by extension Lexus) marketing and branding machine remains one of the best in the world, more so in the United States, where local vehicles continue to see a decline in sale due to dated shoddy performance records.

Not that the locals have improved so dramatically or that they have figured out a way to manufacture defect free products, the issue is the misconception that the foreign autos are any better.

The latest Toyota saga is a demonstration that being foreign doesn’t make it better, or even cheaper. It is time to start buying America again.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/business/01toyota.html