Company: Toyota Motor North America
Supplier: ExxonMobil
Key Stakeholders: Toyota Engineers, Designers, and Quality Specialists
Location: Toyota’s 15+ North American Manufacturing Centers (NAMCs)
Challenge: How can I improve the supply chain of ExxonMobil to decrease cost of engine oil for all Toyota North American Manufacturing Centers (NAMCs)?
Toyota launched their Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA) platform with the goal to streamline the production system. By globally unifying the assembly standards, the TNGA platform can quickly and flexibly respond to customer needs. The platform changed the production assembly lines of all future vehicle makes and models. This impacted the designs and formulations of many vehicle parts and raw materials. One of the big suppliers impacted was ExxonMobil. They supply Toyota with engine oil for most vehicles within North America. With the TNGA platform changes, the price of engine oil increased, and ExxonMobil was the least cost competitive supplier compared to its competitors. I utilized Toyota Business Practices (root cause analysis) to identify cost drivers of the price increase and implemented supply chain improvements to reduce the cost of ExxonMobil’s engine oil.
Role on Project: Project Lead
I analyzed the supply chain of ExxonMobil, implemented a root cause analysis strategy, and identified transportation as the high cost driver for engine oil. I developed an understanding of the supply chain transportation landscape, identified an alternative transportation option, and recommended a multi-modal transportation system to reduce the cost. My collaboration with ExxonMobil set a precedent in Toyota for evaluating future raw material suppliers.