Toyota Motor Corp. Announces Global Quality Task Force

President Akio Toyoda says he will personally lead quality improvement efforts.

(Toyota Motor Sales: Torrance, CA) -- Toyota Motor Corp.’s president, Akio Toyoda, spoke at a press conference on Friday, Feb. 5, in Nagoya, Japan. Toyoda expressed his deep regret for the inconvenience and concern caused to their customers. He also announced that he personally will take the lead toward improving quality around the world by establishing a global quality task force that will conduct quality improvement activities region by region.

The committee headed by Toyoda will have a six-point action plan:

1. Improve quality inspection process. Toyota will inspect again every process, while verifying the causes that led to the recalls, including quality in design, production, sales, and service.

2. Enhance customer research. Toyota will enhance the customer information research offices in each region to collect information faster.

3. Establish an “Automotive Center of Quality Excellence.” To further develop qualified quality management professionals, an “Automotive Center for Quality Excellence” will be established in every key region.

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Toyota Global Quality Task Force

I stopped at the bottom of the first page - although these are good ideas, I'm concerned, for these reasons, that they may be more focused on their reputation than their operational excellence:

1) No reference is made to the root causes of their current situation, so how can these measures be considered solutions?

2) They are soliciting feedback from outside quality experts. Fine, but since Toyota is arguably the global best-in-class and, indeed, sui generis (look it up) for quality and productivity, what's the benefit of feedback from people outside their system?