Well there goes truth in advertising

[merrylander]

Toyota's latest ad braggs about how their cars are BUILT in America. Then in the next half hour the news says Toyota will be cutting production because of a shortage of parts from Japan.

Surely they meant to say the cars are ASSEMBLED in America.

[David Newman]

All of the Japanese companies source a great deal of parts from Japan, they are quite loyal to their supply base, which I think I would view as a positive. Getting "in" is a supplier to Honda/Toyota is difficult business but once you earn their trust, they aren't going to dump you for you competitor offering to knock a penny off your price. They are assembled here as you state, often times with more american sourced content than some of our own cars, but I expect you'll see our makes strive to get more american content into their cars for PR purposes.

[noonereal]

Originally Posted by David Newman

All of the Japanese companies source a great deal of parts from Japan, they are quite loyal to their supply base, which I think I would view as a positive. Getting "in" is a supplier to Honda/Toyota is difficult business but once you earn their trust, they aren't going to dump you for you competitor offering to knock a penny off your price. They are assembled here as you state, often times with more american sourced content than some of our own cars, but I expect you'll see our makes strive to get more american content into their cars for PR purposes.

are they loyal are are they in bed with?

[David Newman]

They have good relationships with their suppliers, I'm not sure if they sleep with them or not.

[finnbow]

Toyota is considered the largest of the Japanese "vertically integrated" keiretsu. In some sense, Toyota and its suppliers are one and the same. For example, under the hood of a Toyota, you'll see most electrical/electronic parts are Nippondenso, a company owned by the Toyota group for the past 50 years.

Their are pros and cons to such relationships. Unlike here, Toyota doesn't squeeze its suppliers to lower unit prices by pennies in the interest of savings (and sometimes to the detriment of quality). They're more interested in quality and dependability from their suppliers than in pressing for the absolute cheapest price.

The keiretsu system was instrumental for providing the corporate structure and management ideology that fueled Japan's economic miracle after WWII. Whether it still is the best system for them in a global economy is debatable.

[piece-itpete]

Darn it Rob, you done set him off again:





The big money always goes back to headquarters.

Pete

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by David Newman

All of the Japanese companies source a great deal of parts from Japan, they are quite loyal to their supply base, which I think I would view as a positive. Getting "in" is a supplier to Honda/Toyota is difficult business but once you earn their trust, they aren't going to dump you for you competitor offering to knock a penny off your price. They are assembled here as you state, often times with more american sourced content than some of our own cars, but I expect you'll see our makes strive to get more american content into their cars for PR purposes.

We could stand to learn a lot from them as far as loyalty to part suppliers goes.
I once worked for an American OEM part supplier, Federal-Mogul. We made very few parts for foreign automakers.

Dave

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Toyota is considered the largest of the Japanese "vertically integrated" keiretsu. In some sense, Toyota and its suppliers are one and the same. For example, under the hood of a Toyota, you'll see most electrical/electronic parts are Nippondenso, a company owned by the Toyota group for the past 50 years.

Their are pros and cons to such relationships. Unlike here, Toyota doesn't squeeze its suppliers to lower unit prices by pennies in the interest of savings (and sometimes to the detriment of quality). They're more interested in quality and dependability from their suppliers than in pressing for the absolute cheapest price.

The keiretsu system was instrumental for providing the corporate structure and management ideology that fueled Japan's economic miracle after WWII. Whether it still is the best system for them in a global economy is debatable.

As I said, We could stand to learn a lot from them.....but we won't.

Dave

[David Newman]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Toyota is considered the largest of the Japanese "vertically integrated" keiretsu. In some sense, Toyota and its suppliers are one and the same. For example, under the hood of a Toyota, you'll see most electrical/electronic parts are Nippondenso, a company owned by the Toyota group for the past 50 years.

Their are pros and cons to such relationships. Unlike here, Toyota doesn't squeeze its suppliers to lower unit prices by pennies in the interest of savings (and sometimes to the detriment of quality). They're more interested in quality and dependability from their suppliers than in pressing for the absolute cheapest price.

The keiretsu system was instrumental for providing the corporate structure and management ideology that fueled Japan's economic miracle after WWII. Whether it still is the best system for them in a global economy is debatable.

At a former job, we supplied Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda and every other major automotive mfg in the world. Honda was by far the most strenuous to prove yourself from a quality and process standpoint. BMW easily had the most f'ed up requirements I ever encountered with almost no documentation and continuously varying requirements, seemingly at the whim of our contact. Most of the quality requirements are consistent across the board with all manufacturers.

When sourcing, proven suppliers are given more consideration than a brand new supplier would get even if the latter had better pricing. That said, suppliers of Toyota are put under the same type of pressure to reduce prices as other makes.

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Toyota is considered the largest of the Japanese "vertically integrated" keiretsu. In some sense, Toyota and its suppliers are one and the same. For example, under the hood of a Toyota, you'll see most electrical/electronic parts are Nippondenso, a company owned by the Toyota group for the past 50 years.

Their are pros and cons to such relationships. Unlike here, Toyota doesn't squeeze its suppliers to lower unit prices by pennies in the interest of savings (and sometimes to the detriment of quality). They're more interested in quality and dependability from their suppliers than in pressing for the absolute cheapest price.

The keiretsu system was instrumental for providing the corporate structure and management ideology that fueled Japan's economic miracle after WWII. Whether it still is the best system for them in a global economy is debatable.

But that does not mean that they don't squeeze those suppliers, I know the do a lot of squeezing in the electronics industry.