Optimizing the selection and implementation of assembly line equipment at a large automobile original equipment manufacturer

Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America (TMMNA) is continuing to face an increasingly competitive automobile market. To meet these evolving market conditions, TMMNA has experienced rapid growth in demand for its automobiles in North America. To meet this demand, Toyota has rapidly grown from three assembly plants in the mid- 1990's to its current total of six assembly plants (five in operation with one being built). This has led to many management challenges, including communication, knowledge sharing, and knowledge retention that many companies experience when faced with rapid growth. In order to respond to these challenges, Vehicle Production Engineering (VPE) Assembly, a department within TMMNA, has attempted to develop a process through which it can standardize its processes and capitalize on best practices across the many North American plants. This thesis studied the process through which VPE Assembly develops and installs assembly line equipment for major automobile model changes. This study included observation of the Toyota product development process and how this process is carried out within VPE Assembly. This research revealed that the assembly line equipment process employed by Toyota is well suited for this organization. However, there are improvements available that could improve the overall process and bring automobiles models to the market more quickly. Communication between the different plants could be improved. Additionally, much knowledge learned from completed projects is not being shared fully between the various plants. Suggested improvements to address these problems are discussed.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Holman, Cale M. (Cale Matthew)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Charles Fine and Daniel Whitney.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Ocean Engineering.
• Leaders for Manufacturing Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34857

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/34857