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Since its founding, Toyota has carried out
corporate activities based on the concept of "the customer always comes
first." This concept was declared in "The Toyoda Precepts" (established
in 1935) which has been handed down as the Toyota Group's guiding philosophy.
Toyota, including its dealers, makes a company-wide effort to build relations
with its customers, and all employees keep the "customer first" policy
in mind in all aspects of their jobs.
 See
details on "The Toyoda Precepts" |
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•Schematic Diagram of Customer Responses
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| Approach to Customer Satisfaction |
Customers' evaluations and opinions are an
expression of their expectations of Toyota, so Toyota receives them sincerely
and responds in good faith, in the belief that making use of them in its
corporate activities will lead to customer satisfaction. Toyota always
tries to grasp shifts in customer demands, constantly checking for conformity
with its standards, and acting swiftly to resolve any discrepancies.
The voice of the customer is quickly relayed to all related departments and
divisions in development, production and sales, where they are helpful to
product planning, raising product quality and improving Toyota's corporate
activities. |
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| Wide-Ranging Information Gathering and Reflection
in Development of New Vehicles |
Toyota collects customer evaluation data
through wide-ranging information collection activities, including directly
through consultations with customers, complaints from customers, and also
through quality reports from dealers and questionnaires given to purchasers
of new cars, as well as from the results of studies by third party institutions
such as J.D. Power.* Furthermore, Toyota collects information indirectly
from dealers and suppliers within the Toyota Group.
In order to have the results of data analysis reflected as soon as possible
in vehicle production, Toyota is strengthening internal coordination with
research and development-related divisions.
*J.D.Power: An international consulting firm
that specializes in customer satisfaction research |
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| Customer Relations Division Initiatives |
The Customer
Relations Division is "the division within the company in direct
contact with customers needs." The staff place an emphasis on
the voices of individual customers, through consulting with them and
handling their complaints, striving to improve customer satisfaction.
The Customer Assistance Center acts as a contact point within the company
for customers and has consulted with or handled complaints from about
200,000 people this fiscal year. Toyota is in contact with its dealers
throughout Japan to handle customer complaints, and makes a sincere
effort to gain customer trust and satisfaction, striving to maintain
and increase the number of Toyota fans.
The Customer Relations Division also makes direct proposals to sales,
research and development, and production divisions and holds discussion
meetings with them, so that customers' voices can be useful in improving
the company's products and corporate activities.
Looking overseas, Toyota is supporting efforts at its distributors worldwide
to strengthen and improve their systems for dealing with customers, as
evidenced by the establishment of a Customer Assistance Center in TMCI,
China in July 2002. |
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The Customer Assistance Center which acts
as a contact point for customers |
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| "Amlux Toyota" Functioning to
Exchange Information with Customers |
Toyota Auto
Salon Amlux showrooms function as a publicity arm of Toyota to offer
consultations with customers about purchases and collect customer information
to be forwarded to Toyota. In the showrooms, special consulting staff,
called "Amlux Mirar," deal with customer relations, suggesting
the ideal car for each person and providing information about it. The
information gathered here is input into the database and provided as
feedback to the development and sales divisions via the Toyota Intranet.
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New car purchaser evaluation reports" are also a part of these efforts.
Customers visiting Amlux salons are provided with a questionnaire to
fill out, by which Toyota gathers frank opinions on exterior design,
interior furnishings, and features, etc., which are relayed to the relevant
divisions. In addition, from June 2002 Toyota started forwarding information
to dealers regarding issues that many customers have voiced concerns
or doubts about via satellite-linked terminals, called MU-BOX. |
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Introduction of a new model by Amlux Mirar |
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| Examples of Products Developed Using Customers'
Ideas |
| In the new model
Caldina, which underwent complete redesign in September 2002, Toyota
was able to incorporate many ideas from customers that it had gathered
earlier, and improve the quality of many of the parts. Some of these
ideas included: "a system to switch the color of graduations on
the meter to suit customer preference," "independent seatbelt
buckles for the rear seats to facilitate changing seat arrangements
and easy fastening and unfastening of seatbelts" and "the
adoption of a reversible deck board for higher luggage space functionality." |
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Employees examining the deck board |
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