Nissan Reflection

Weekly Reflection: Nissan

Nissan is a multinational automobile manufacturer with operations spanning the globe.

Every business strives to make a product customers want. Nissan takes its vision further by employing a philosophy of “enriching people’s lives” (Nissan Global, Philosophy, para. 1). This paper will focus on the manufacturing process designs used by Nissan. In addition, the team will reflect on two interesting or unique observations regarding the manufacturing processes.

Type of Process used by Nissan

The process designs used by Nissan Motors include made to order and made to stock. The plant operates based on the made to order design. Made-to-order refers to “those that make the customer’s product from raw materials, parts, and components are make-to-order firms” (Jacobs & Chase, 2011, p.161). The plants take the orders from the different dealerships based on the demand from the customers. When it comes to the Nissan dealerships, they operate based on the made to stock process design. The made-to-stock refers to “firms that serve customers from finished goods inventory” (Jacobs & Chase, 2011, p.161). The dealerships supply themselves with enough automobiles in inventory to service customers looking to purchase the cars.

Quality as a Result of Lean Manufacturing

In 2006, Nissan was the industry leader in labor hours per car (Jackson, 2006). The 28.24 hours of labor per car can be attributed to Nissan’s lean approach to the manufacturing process. Lean production is a “focus on eliminating as much waste as possible” (Jacobs & Chase, 2011). Like most automobile manufacturers, Nissan utilizes an assembly line for their production system. What sets Nissan apart from the manufacturers is their unique process manufacturing flow design. Nissan is able to reduce wasted