Toyota’s production strategy in South America: Production in Brazil and Argentina

Abstract

Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) has two manufacturing plants in Brazil and Argentina whose scales are medium and two CKD (completely knocked-down) plants in Colombia and Venezuela. The main purpose of this chapter is to clarify the transfer of the Japanese production system into the two plants in Brazil and Argentina, based on field research.1 The focal point is to analyze transferability of the so-called Toyota Production System into South America. The structure of the chapter constitutes four parts: first, I explain Toyota Motor’s production strategy in South America, then I clarify transferring the production system to Brazil and Argentina, with a focus on skill formation and production/quality control at the plants. After that I evaluate the transferability of the system in South America.