Differences:

1. The range of products that were offered by both companies varied greatly and thus
brought different challenges. Benihana had a limited menu and could focus on its
suppliers extensively. But SO had variety of products with different lead times, thus it
needed a more integrated network and coordination with its suppliers.
2. Extracting value from the end users varied for both firms, Benihana wanted to be
perceived as different yet standardized it processes to cut costs and seem cost
competitive. Whereas SO want to be premium in the market by offering wide variety of
jackets and accessories.

Q3) Compare and contrast the use of TPS by TMM and VM hospital?
Since TMM is overseen by the Toyota motor corporation, the pioneers of Toyota production
system (TPS), thus they got firsthand exposure to the philosophy of TPS and were coached by
experienced trainers of TPS. For TMM, TPS was the framework to achieve operational
excellence and satisfy customer needs by providing quality, variety and timeliness, while
maintaining cost competitiveness. In their assembly area, they had created an environment
which would visually identify deviations, thereby assisting in waste elimination.
Whereas VMMC started using TPS framework because it was incurring financial losses and
losing market share to its ever growing list of competitors. For VMMS, TPS was a framework
which would give it a competitive advantage by cost cutting measures, and a customer oriented
mindset to its employees (physicians, technicians, nurses), also it wanted to overcome the
work-around cultures and eliminate the ambiguities that were faced by medical professionals
because of the system complexity.
If we compare the use of TPS by both organizations, we note that TMM had guidance in
applying TPS and they were replicating the parent company’s framework to achieve operational
excellence by employing tools such as: Andon cords and Kanban cards to following the TPS
principles of JIT, Jidoka, and Kaizen etc. Whereas VMMS first laid the context for TPS by making
corporate level changes, and used tools that matched its context such as: RPIW, 5S, 3P,
Everyday lean and Bundles to eliminate waste, and reduce the number of accidents that they
were made in medical centers, thus validating can TPS can be applied to tacit knowledge work.