| dc.description.abstract | In conjunction with constantly changing general worldwide business climate and the daily introduction of new technological innovations, businesses face an environment of ever increasing competition between rivals, and they must constantly consider what method to use in order to maintain any competitive advantage they have. During the financial crisis of 2008, all corporations worldwide faced unprecedented adversity and operational difficulty. Due to this, in recent years corporations have done their utmost to use various different management techniques in order to face future challenges and changes in the business market, with the aim of being able to weather any crisis and indefinitely maintain profitability.
The goal of this study is to observe mature electrical component manufacturers, and to discover what managerial techniques they employ. This is done in order to provide reference for other firms, allowing them to compete and stand out from their competitors in this ever more intensely competitive field. We further analyze the challenges faced by the case firms in their efforts to cope with the changing corporate environment and analyze the motives behind their choice to adopt Toyota’s automated production line system. We take a look at these firms before and after this system is adopted, so as to determine what effects it has had on their operations, allowing us to determine if these effects are ideal for the case firms.
This work employs case study analysis, using data gathered through interviews with high ranking management, as well as looking at the related literature and other secondary sources of information. Based on our research, we have come to three conclusions. First, the case firms have, in an attempt to deal with the changing business environment, adopted several measures that set themselves ahead of their peers by cutting costs to improving their profits, including employing non-traditional mass production management techniques, such as common sense floating production lines and bottleneck management methods. Next, the case companies have found, after appraising the effects of introducing floating production lines and bottleneck management techniques, that the results have been less than ideal, and after analyzing their own company resources and ability, they chose to instead adopt Toyota’s real-time production system, in the hopes of attaining better results, increasing profit, and improving their own competitiveness.
Finally, even though the case companies found that, a year after introducing the Toyota real-time production system, they indeed obtained the effects and improvements they desired, however, based on the core motto of the Toyota system, they are not content to grow complacent and be satisfied with their current status, instead endeavoring to ever improve their efficiency, in order to maintain competitiveness and face possible unforeseen situations.
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