MOT Fail :(

[Veg_Ian]

Having had very little to do with Mazda dealers I ask out of curiousity. Toyota have a system called VOR (Vehicle Off Road). Having had 2 import Toyotas I soon learned the trick of, when asking for parts that had to be ordered from Japan, saying the vehicle was off the road. They would then ship the part via air rather than sea at no extra cost (to me). This meant that the part would be ready for collection within 5 days rather than 3 weeks. I was told the rationale was that Toyota saw it as a failing if one of their vehicles was laid up for any length of time.

The only dealing I've had with Mazda was with a surly bunch of Ford staff begrudgingly selling Mazda parts. Anyone know if such an arrangement exists with Mazda dealers?

[bigdaddycain]

Having had very little to do with Mazda dealers I ask out of curiousity. Toyota have a system called VOR (Vehicle Off Road). Having had 2 import Toyotas I soon learned the trick of, when asking for parts that had to be ordered from Japan, saying the vehicle was off the road. They would then ship the part via air rather than sea at no extra cost (to me). This meant that the part would be ready for collection within 5 days rather than 3 weeks. I was told the rationale was that Toyota saw it as a failing if one of their vehicles was laid up for any length of time.

That's a good idea, surely mazda have something similar in place?

It's reminiscent of rolls royce' secret free lifetime recovery service...except not quite so cloak and dagger.

[Mr Halibut]

Yes this is a ford dealer, I told them my car would be off the road due to MOT fail and I would not have transport and the chap just shrugged his shoulders and said it would get here when it gets here.

[cheffy34]

Sounds like the typical ford dealer, i've tried using ford in exeter which is supposed to be there main inport department and they are as usefull as a choclate fire gaurd, they really hate dealing with inport stuff, the amount of times they were supposed to get back to me but never do they even get me to find the part numbers on there computer before because they cxan't find the part i need, more like they can't be bothered bet mazda would'nt be chuffed with there attitude

Dar

[scanner]

VOR is nothing new and not specific to Toyota either.

It's been about for years now - but what difference it makes is very dubious and varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and from dealer to dealer.

It basically depends upon how much they care and that really does vary from dealer to dealer.

[Veg_Ian]

I think you are probably right Scanner. I had an excellent rapport with a Toyota dealer in Sheffield but not so good in my home town of Chesterfield where I would get an uninterested stare from the parts chap.

On the Townace site we found a very helpful Toyota dealer on the IOW who would ship stuff as far as New Zealand for our punters. If anyone can recommend a good Mazda dealer (now there's a challenge) it would be worth sharing that info for the benefit of others.

[mikeonb4c]

Toyota became well known for their adoption/commitment to the 'Just in Time' philosophy, and I can't help wondering if what you have witnessed is a consequence of this. I've been fascinated to read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_In_Time_(business) which tells how Ford started the idea way back wehn, but Toyota were appalled to see how badly they were actually adhering to it. Reading on, you get a clear sense of necessity (lack of useable land for storing inventory goods in Japan) being the mother of invention. When you think what flows from that (building plants overseas, as in UK) etc etc. it is very thought provoking.

[francophile1947]

Mike - I can't find anything on that Wikipedia link Where should I be looking?

[Mr Halibut]

Links to pictures of the valve as promised. There was a small white piece of plastic on the end that fits into the brake cylinder but when I tried to crack the valve open i dropped the whole thing and it smashed.

http://www.surferus.pwp.blueyonder.co.u ... C_0010.JPG
http://www.surferus.pwp.blueyonder.co.u ... C_0011.JPG
http://www.surferus.pwp.blueyonder.co.u ... C_0012.JPG
http://www.surferus.pwp.blueyonder.co.u ... C_0015.JPG
http://www.surferus.pwp.blueyonder.co.u ... C_0016.JPG
http://www.surferus.pwp.blueyonder.co.u ... C_0017.JPG
http://www.surferus.pwp.blueyonder.co.u ... C_0018.JPG
http://www.surferus.pwp.blueyonder.co.u ... C_0021.JPG

[mister munkey]

Mike - I can't find anything on that Wikipedia link Where should I be looking?

Try here John

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-in-ti ... s)#History

[francophile1947]

Mike - I can't find anything on that Wikipedia link Where should I be looking?

Try here John

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-in-ti ... s)#History

Ta muchly Mr M

[mikeonb4c]

JIT or panic management as it's affectionately known

One of the ways the inefficient car makers adopted to improve JIT or supplier performance was to incorporate collection of parts to meet their production schedules and allow in-plant Kanbans (a fall back in case of failure of JIT). If the supplier failed to meet the delivery schedule and went into backlog, the missing parts were then freighted at the suppliers cost to the plant, often by hiring a private plane, and the cost of transport was recharged until the necessary stock levels (Kanban) were replenished. If a supplier stopped a line due to non supply the penalties were extortionate. In the late '90's General Motors penalised the Astra & Vectra suppliers at £60k per minute. When I joined the board of a Tier 1 automotive supplier in the late '90's one product was at 27,000 backlog for GM in Mexico, the freight costs were phenonminal and well above the product cost, sorted that quick smart. Never actually stopped the line, unlike a GM in-house supplier Delphi, but saw lots of private planes out of Blackbushe aerodrome of an evening to arrive in Bochum or Poland ahead of the trucks!!

Interesting also that Ford were the last major auto maker to adopt SD&Q, and only adopted when faced with near bancruptcy at the turn of the last century.

Re the wiki article, yet again a classic misrepresentation of fact and the Demming principles. Interesting that there is no mention of Demming anywhere in the article, but lots of reference to the McKensie 7 S's. Wonder where the author worked? There is a disclaimer at the top of the article too.

The progression from JIT is Lean, but must be an end to end implementation, which so very often is not achieved due to internal silos and conflicts in organisations. Lots of talk about Lean, not often much action.

Then we move on to World Class, which every company thinks they are, but very few are.

I reckon that, in simple terms, it means the Japs are efficient at getting the job done and the Yanks are not