Mazda Motor Corporation is one of the world's leading car manufacturers with the full total net sales in '09 2009 reaching a whopping 2, 535. 9 billion Yen. Mazda Motor unit Corporation was established in Japan in 1920, under the name, Toyo Cork Kogyo. Primarily only dealing with the manufacturing of car parts, they have ventured out to the producing of commercial trucks, eventually proceeding to the manufacturing of vehicles, which it is well known for nowadays. As times moves, Mazda Motor Companies has since effectively ventured out of Japan, conquering other parts of the world including Mexico, Italy, Thailand merely to name a few, as well as establishing Research and Development sites in countries like Germany, China, and america of America.
Mazda Motor Firm mainly cater to the needs of 2 different sections of consumers: Commercial consumers and Non-Commercial Consumers.
Vehicles under the Mazda E-series and Mazda BT-50 appeal to commercial purposes. Types of vehicles that fall under the above categories include pick-ups, lorries and vans which are most commonly utilized by companies for transporting of goods and materials etc.
On the other hands, Mazda also cater to non commercial consumers and their vehicles were created specifically to fulfill 2 sets of consumers: Family & PMET ( Professional, Managers, Executives and Technicians). Models such as Mazda 5 and Mazda 8 are MVPs (Multi Purpose Vehicles) that happen to be well suited for large families while models like Mazda 3 & Mazda 6 are the typical family sedans suited to smaller families. On the other hand, models like Mazda RX-8 and Mazda MX-5 give you a more sporty look and may seem to appeal more to young working experts or PMETS. Mazda 2 & Mazda CX-7 are SUVs( Athletics Utility Vehicles which can be targeted towards activities enthusiasts.
The hq of Mazda Motor Corporation is situated at 3-1 Shinchi, Fuchu-Cho, Aki-gun, Hiroshima, with different branches located at differing of Japan like Osaka, Tokyo, Yamaguchi and many more to permit provide easy accessibility to consumers.
Mazda Motor Company has adopted a mixture of B2B (business to business), B2C (business to consumer) business design. The company has a wide range of products to focus on the needs of both commercial and non commercial consumers. By segmenting out their concentrate on consumers, Mazda can spread out the chance to do business if the sales in one market suffer. This strategy will also enable Mazda to reap the advantages of increasing its market show in both the commercial and non commercial sections.
Purchasing Strategies
Mazda Motor Company, despite being truly a car manufacturer, obtains their parts and materials from suppliers. The 3 main suppliers that they obtain essential parts includes: Kanto Yokokai (situated in Kanto, Kansai and Tokai parts of Japan) and Nishi Nihon Yokokai (located in Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu parts of Japan). Mazda Engine Company obtains their necessary materials like plastic material from Yoshinkai. However, the machines of most Mazda autos are made by the company itself, rather than obtaining it from suppliers.
Parts for the car like screws and nuts are from multiple suppliers. This enables the company to truly have a wider variety of options to choose from being that they are not limited to only one provider. This provides them with flexibility as well as more bargaining ability, which will permit them to acquire their necessary materials at the cheapest possible price. However, the materials used in the car production process are extracted from only one dealer. Though there is only a single provider for the materials, Mazda Engine Company is also in a position to obtain the materials needed at a suitable price. That is because of the fact that Mazda Engine Firm has chosen Yoshinkai as their exclusive provider for materials. This will allow those to have special benefits because the honour to be the sole company of materials is given to Yoshinkai.
A few explanations why Mazda Motor Company has made a decision to buy the materials and parts rather than rendering it themselves is due to cost advantages, insufficient experience as well as the quality of the provided items.
If Mazda Engine Corporation, an automobile production company, were to endeavor into the creation of their own required parts and materials, the business will not be focused on car developing but on other areas like processing of metallic for example. This can be costly for the business since they would have to spend additional money to research on the steps had a need to hold this out since there is a insufficient knowledge in this field. Even if this research is successful and the company were able to produce the items needed, the product quality might not exactly be as good as that of which are from their suppliers, who are more capable. This might also cause Mazda Motor unit Corporation to lose their personality as a leading car supplier as consumers might be confused concerning whether Mazda Motor Corporation is a car supplier or a manufacturer of materials and parts.
There are certain specific areas which Mazda Motor unit Corporation looks out for while considering which supplier to purchase their parts and materials for. These areas are quality of the delivered items, time for delivery of the materials and cost of these materials.
All if not most companies operate for one common goal, which is to make profit. Mazda Motor Organization is no exception. Thus, it is vital for the company to obtain the materials needed at the least expensive price available without diminishing the grade of the materials. This will allow their budget to be decreased, that will eventually lead to an increased profit gain as compared to when the company choose the same materials, with the same quality at an increased price. Enough time at which the materials are provided is similarly important as well. If the materials ordered are delivered later part of the, this may lead to a delay of production, which might lead to a loss of profit for the company. In worse case scenarios, the company may have to compensate their customers if development is halted because of this delay.
Mazda Motor Corporation also adopts the Make-To-Stock technique for its operations. This is due to the fact that the business is churning out the same few models of cars in an enormous volume. Thus, by implementing this strategy, the business is able to meets its creation focus on and satisfaction of the majority of its customers can be guaranteed. The low manufacturing costs also allows the business to produce a earnings as well.
However, the business also utilises the Make-To-Order Strategy. This is seen in the customization option which Mazda Electric motor Organization offers to customers who needs to modify their cars. This gives a wider range of product options to customers and not limiting those to purchasing autos which are already made.
Order Management
Mazda Motor Company has showrooms positioned in its head office as well as in many other regions around the united states, whether it is in Japan, where their main head office is situated, or far away which Mazda Electric motor Organization has ventured into. Interested customers can either walk-in to some of their showrooms, where a sales associate will help them in choosing the right car to them, or a scheduled appointment can be made beforehand either through telephone or email. After the customer has chosen their desired car, an order form will be stuffed in, which will be entered to their system later on. An invoice will be issued to the client. The order will be passed on the head office, where the staff will check with their details to see if you may still find stock available. If not, they will check if creation for that one car has been planned. Often, a delivery order will get to the circulation centre where the car will be chosen by the personnel according to details on the picking list. Transportation will be organized to deliver the automobile to the decided on venue where in fact the customer will acquire it. This place will either be at the warehouse, or the service centre because the showroom may well not have sufficient space to store the automobiles.
Mazda Motor Company, at the moment, only handles sales of its automobiles at their showroom rather than through other channels like email or calls.
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Inventory Management
Mazda Motor Company has developed its own inventory management system called the "Mazda Materials Management Planning", also called M3P in the car industry. This technique allows the company to have reliable control over its stocks and shares and inventory levels, which will allow the business to possess increased efficiency in meeting demands in development level.
Alongside with M3P, Mazda Electric motor Corporation has also utilised the point of deal system, also known widely as POS, to complement their personal produced inventory management system. POS allows the automation of inventory control in a bid to improve the work efficiency of the personnel so they can obtain everything required to be able to cope with customers' needs without much difficulty. In the long run, the high efficiency of the staff will allow the company to bring in more revenue because the company will have made a name for themselves because of their high work efficiency rate.
M3P also allows the company to acquire better demand forecast. This allows the company to predict and plan and program order of parts and materials needed in order to continue productions and ensure that there are no surprising halt to production ideas because of insufficient inventory levels. Delivery time may also be further improved through the utilisation of the system. Subsequently, this can help improve satisfaction in customers and allow Mazda Motor Corporation to build up its trustworthiness of having an organized and well-planned system to control both company's as well as the customers' needs.
Operations Planning
Mazda Motor Organization carried out long-range operation planning with the assistance of M3P. M3P, when in conjunction with all different information of inventory management, offers a rather correct forecast which allows it to handle resource and demand to meet its various needs. This enables the company to acquire complete demand forecasts as high as a year, which enables those to have proper planning with their development schedules. This gives the company to obtain sufficient time to solve any issues that they might encounter in the regions of outsourcing of these materials, growth of the business and other various aspects.
With all the above carried out, Materials Requirement Planning (MRP) is also completed thereafter. Mazda Motor unit Corporations blueprints all different parts of the car which is produced. This enables the company to have a schedule of which a particular car should be completed, together with all the materials needed and whether there's a need to order these materials should there not be enough in the inventory. By doing so, the company will be able to meet all, if not almost all of their sales order.
Customer Relationship Management
Like most companies, Mazda Motor Corporation calls for great take great pride in in building up a good marriage between customers and the business. The business itself sees a need to have a understanding with its customers. That is one of the reasons why the company has come up with an approach to ensure customer satisfaction.
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The company believe in providing different attractive products to customers. Quality of the product is also guaranteed in order to keep up the reputation of one of the leading car manufacturers in Japan. Efficient after-sales service is also provided to make sure that customers are being taken care of even following a purchase has been made. The business believes that by understanding the various needs and desires of their customers, the business will then have the ability to improve and make changes to better suit the customers' needs.
Mazda Motor Firm is also available to comments and recommendations from its customers through its call centre. The call centre handles questions, grievances as well as advice from its customers. Besides through the call centre, customers are also able to provide their insight through the Mazda Engine Firm website on the "Inquiries" site. The company takes all these suggestions seriously. By doing so, they are able to make changes to keep up with the customers' needs. This in turn, will allow the customers' to believe that the company is doing their finest to serve the clients and ultimately, permit them to have a good impression of the business. Mazda Motor Corporation will then be able to ensure a constant move of customers, that allows more generation of earnings for the business.
Purchasing Strategies
Mazda Motor Organization expenses its parts from multiple suppliers, but only a single supplier for its materials. On the top, this might not be a problem to the business as of this moment. However, with only a single supplier for its materials, Mazda may wrap up being on the getting rid of end in the event if the dealer is to increase price in order to get more profit, since they will be the only sole dealer of the materials.
If such a situation happens, the company will have to increase their budget to support the quick hike in cost, which will in turn reduce their total cash flow. In worse circumstances, if the business is unable to come to terms with their supplier, productions will have to be halted and development schedules will be postponed. This will cause the business to struggle to meet the requirements of customers and the company may have to pay a sizable sum of money as settlement.
A sudden shortage of materials from its suppliers may also cause the business to put their production strategies on halt since there are inadequate materials. Time will be wasted to be able to source for another company to get the necessary materials.
To solve this issue, Mazda Motor Firm can outsource for another supplier for its materials. By having a second dealer, the company will have a backup option should they be unable to obtain their materials from one of its suppliers. This can also allow the company to possess greater bargaining capacity to obtain the materials better value since there are now competitions between the two suppliers.
Order Management
Customer's purchase of vehicles in Mazda Motor Corporation is performed on-site, meaning all requests are treated in the show rooms of the company. Since no orders can be carried out online or through phone calls, the company will lose business to its rivals in the car industry and also require started accepting orders online or via phone calls. This, over time, will cause the business to lose its reputable position among the leading car manufacturers in Japan and ultimately, reducing gains for the company.
Thus, a solution can be devised to solve this problem. First of all, the company take up the thought of e-commerce having an online order system. This allows customers to make purchases online, anywhere 24/7. With such an approach, the business will be kept up to date with technology trends and yet perform business at the same time, killing two parrots with one natural stone. A user-friendly e-commerce website can be integrated into the current website of the company. This allows the company to get a site with multiple usability. Customers can view available products and if they're interested, make purchases online. With such convenience, customers' satisfaction is sure to be guaranteed because they are able to buy their desire car by using a hassle-free process.
By implementing the above solution, Mazda Electric motor Corporation will be able to portray themselves as a corporation that is able to acknowledge changes to meet customers' needs and keep their reputation as one of the leading car manufacturers in Japan.
Inventory Management
As stated in earlier elements of the report, Mazda Motor Corporation utilises their own unique inventory system, M3P to take care of its inventory. Though this system has been said to aid the company in handling its inventory levels to meet creation demands, it is not entirely perfect.
The reason being, any program, no subject how good it is, will destined to fail sometimes. Since Mazda Motor Corporation relies heavily on M3P to take care of its inventory, there will be major problems if the system were to breakdown at anybody point of their time. Inventory levels will not be modified and the business may miscalculate its production schedules. This might cause all productions to be infected. Needs will also not be achieved and it'll affect the entire operations of the company.
Another reason is the fact that inventory levels in the machine may not be kept up to date real-time. That is a serious concern to the staff of Mazda Motor Corporation, The personnel will not be able to gauge accurately whether there is a need to replenish its stocks and shares because the inventory levels is not exact. This may then lead to a lack in supply of stocks, impacting on the operation of the business.
One measure that your company can undertake would be to have sufficient safety stock at any one point of the time. Thus, if M3P were to are unsuccessful because of any surprising errors at anybody point of your time, there it's still enough safety securities to provide "temporary respite" if there should be any miscalculations of inventory levels due to the system mistake.
Operations Planning
Mazda Motor Company, by making use of its inventory management system M3P, packages its operations on a permanent basis. This, on the top may look impressive as it portrays the image that the business can do this because of their great foresight. However, though ideas may be carried out beforehand, there might be certain unpredicted situations that may occur in between. For instance, the company may undergo acquisition by other company for commercial purposes. This may lead to major changes in operations of the business. Suppliers might not exactly be willing to supply necessary resources to the business, which may impact productions and delivery of goods to customers. Overdue delivery of goods will not only cause the business to incur additional costs, it will also affect customer romance and the company's reputation may also be in danger.
This problem is simple enough to solve. Mazda Motor Company can still have permanent planning done ahead of time with the forecast forecasted through the utilization of M3P. However, backup programs should be done alongside with all its future plans and schedules. This allows the company to obtain different alternatives when they are confronted with an unexpected situation or crisis. The business will thus have the ability to have well-planned schedules and not get worried if any problems will impact its operations since they have backup programs for insurance.
Customer Service Relation
Having good relationships with customers is one of the beliefs which Mazda Electric motor Corporation possesses. That is why the company has setup a call centre with around 50 personnel to respond to any phone calls with questions regarding various issues. An inquiry page has also been setup to permit customers to get into all their inquiries for a remedy online, on the Mazda Motor unit Organization homepage. However, there could be certain questions which might be complicated and the staff may take more time to respond to these questions. Though there could be similar questions asked before, not absolutely all staff members may be aware of these questions and the solutions to it. Thus, the response time may be reduced greatly and the work speed may well not be as productive as expected. It will also pose a difficulty should there not be adequate staff to entertain inquiries from customers since there is merely 50 staff to take care of all this questions.
Thus, besides adding to the inquiry webpage on the homepage of Mazda Motor unit Corporation, the business can also use the latest cultural networking tools. One of these would be the use of Facebook. The company interact with customers with this. Customers may also be able to ask about certain things by submitting a comment on the page. This way, if the staffs of Mazda Motor unit Corporation cannot provide a reaction to the client quickly, there could be other people who will be able to answer these questions. One advantage of this is that customers are able to connect with other customers and not only the business itself. This will allow them to exchange information needed and lessen the burden on staffs handling these inquiries, though this will not imply that the staff will never be giving an answer to any questions posed by customers. This form of connection between customers allows experience to be distributed among each other as well.
Besides helping to improve customer relationship, sociable networking can be a way for Mazda Motor Organization to provide posts to its customers. This can include happenings or deals. Thus, this form of conversation will be beneficial in helping bridging the distance between customers and the business.
