Toyota Applies Walmart Like Pressure To Vendors To Cut Part Costs By 30%

No wonder why quality level and reliability are free falling.

The Walmart philosophy is to pit vendors against each other to see who will go the lowest and they get the nod. Quality in Walmart's case is never the issue price is the main factor. Hopefully Toyota won't go this route.

And that shows in the overall reliability of some brands.

BW--

euro brands have improved, but they still trail the asians (including koreans) AND detroit.

they've only started to play catch-up; have not actually done so yet.

Catch up to detroit? Are you trying to get us to laugh with that lame joke?

Well I will buying a toyota in 2012 then!

The Toyoda heir should be fired by their board. This is a dumb idea that is not based on any engineering or design. Vendors will cut costs by cutting quality. Why don't they talk about making decent cars instead of wasting company resources on Supra, FT, LFA whatever that nobody can buy.

I think Agent009 has some insight here but, I also think Toyota is seriously looking for a vantage point in that they are keen strategist for in house control. For instance, just about every part of their new supercar(LFA)was designed, engineered and manufactured in house. Do you realize what kind of automotive car maker we are dealing with here? This company is absolutely phenomenol! Think about this for a few mins. The LFA will be totally designed, engineered, manufactured, produced and customed hand made to perfection for their customers(specially selected ones at that) and to order spec...all 500 of them!.....Now while all the nay sayers are out there bad mouthing Toyota/Lexus Mr. Akio Toyota(great grandson of Toyotas founder), being an extreme race car enthusiast, is relentlously positioning his company and strategically bringing forth state of the art and performance vehicles.

One that likes to reinvent the wheel spending billions and billions of dollars on technologies and designs that were already invented. Oh wait that's a lie, they didn't solely build and design it by them selves. For instance Yamaha helped develop their engine.

lemon puss--

as usual, from FRAGMENTARY info you concoct totally imagined scenarios in your own fractured head.

lexus building their own jigs and looms to build CF parts larger and more complex than ever attempted before is NOT "reinventing the wheel."

you need to reinvent YOURSELF from being a would be smartass, who is IN REALITY just another DUMB ASS who concocts erroneous images in his so called mind.

XYZZ, you seem to dislike something about what I said. I would say yes it is reinventing the wheel. There are plenty of suppliers more then capable of dealing with custom carbon fiber parts for a fraction of the cost. Why is it a fraction of the cost compared to what lexus is doing? Simple, they have already done the R&D work behind making carbon fiber parts, this leads to far cheaper as well as more reliable parts. Lexus isn't doing anything new. Mclaren however for example is doing something new, their carbon tub can be made in 2 hours for a fraction of the cost, something never seen in industry, it takes some steel bodied cars longer to be welded together! Lexus however, with their panels that take anywhere from days to weeks to prepare/make isn't doing anything that hasn't already been done before. Therefore they are reinventing the wheel, finding all of the time and money wasting lessons that everybody else has already learned.

You really need to start distancing yourself from Lexus there buddy. I don't think anyone would think you're mentally stable if you start throwing insults every time someone puts down a car company you have no affiliation to.

Corretion...Mr Akio Toyoda!...with a d respectively.

With exception to Toyotas bottom line, when is it ever a good idea to go with the lowest bidder? They're the lowest bidder for a reason and quality will suffer even if it's just a little bit.

well, that 'good idea' is what detroit has practiced for well over half a century. so detroit used to mass produce cars made with "the CHEAPEST PARTS money could buy."
used to be, suppliers would even submit bids BELOW their costs, just to land a supplier contract. then later, they'd request "adjustments" so they wouldn't go bankrupt and disrupt the flow of parts. some went bankrupt ANYWAY.

in the past toyota did NOT always select the lowest bidder. they had a preference for suppliers they had a history with, and who could provide parts that met toyota's high quality standards. they DID often request cuts in prices, figuring over time the suppliers would get more efficient in their productivity. and they even loaned their engineers to suppliers to help with designs and productivity.

if they are pressuring suppliers to cut costs, it is only a matter of DEGREE (30% IS a bit high); they (and presumably all carmakers) had ALWAYS been doing this.

the toyota difference, is that they STILL DEMAND minimum standards of durability in the parts.

"You get what you pay for..."


and that is exactly WHY detroit iron starts having problems as soon as year 2 or 3, while honda and toyota products can get to 8 - 10 years old before problems begin to appear in MEASURABLE figures.

it will likely take 4 to 8 years before anyone KNOWS whether this move by toyota will actually affect the reliability and durability of their products.

it's not like this is something completely new.

to meet the cost advantages of the koreans, toyota had a team of engineers work a whole year to match them on costs,

WITHOUT SACRIFICING traditional toyota quality and reliability. at least on their low end models, which were feeling the most pressure.

this was more than a few years ago now. and i have not heard of any lessening of reliability in yarises and corollas.

recalls (of generally SUPPLIER PROVIDED substandard parts) have NO RELATIONSHIP to the general reliability of a vehicle's drivetrain.

that is why CR hardly ever considers recalls in assessing vehicle reliability. (unless safety related)

i don't deny that this move may result in more (supplier provided) parts failures in toyotas.

but the thing is, toyota was SO FAR AHEAD of the domestics in parts quality, this will hardly be disasterous in comparison with other like priced vehicles. toyota has always had parts tested TO FAILURE. the D3 only cared that the parts hold up thru the warranty period.

henry ford used to send his engineers to junk yards, to examine old fords there. parts that were NOT WORN OUT, were considered to be too well made and costly. toyota likewise may be coming to realize that their cars have been TOO well built historically. hence this move.

Yes I have to agree. I cannot see how quality will not suffer. In fact I might choose Hyundai now over Toyota as their quality has gotten consistently better. In fact I would now see parity between them.