PDCA Case Study

Copyright Toyota Institute Asia Pacific, Toyota Motor Asia Pacific Engineering and Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
This document may not be reproduced in any form.
Blank
Case Study PDCA: Plan
Walking Route and Guide Book for Bangkok Motor Show

The Bangkok International Motor Show began in 1979 and is now the second largest automotive

trade fair in Asia. It takes place during the first two weeks of March at the Bangkok International

Trade & Exhibition Center. Prototypes, new equipment, and technical breakthroughs are often made

public during this exhibition. The show is a forum for car companies to promote their products to both

regional dealers and to the public.

Each year there is a delegation of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) executives and management who

visit the show to understand the trends and direction of the Southeast Asian market. This show helps

them to understand what the best product mix may be in this region to maximize our sales. This year

the responsibility at Toyota Motor Asia Pacific (TMAP) for the show and hosting of the executives is

transferring from the Marketing Division (MO) to the Product Planning Division (PPD) due to the most

of required information and associated staffs are with the PPD.

In the past, the host prepared a working route and a guide book aim to fully exploit the presence of

the TMC executives by showing them the future Southeast Asian market product trends and apply for

planning new products in this region. It is necessary that PPD must prepare the walking route and the

guide book with the information that is useful and necessary for their understanding during the visit

the motor show.

In this year, the PPD management thinks it will be more beneficial for TMAP executives to

escort and act as guides for the TMC executives. To achieve this, one of PPDs strategies is to

develop the walking route with the guidebook, moreover, uses it and guides by the people who

understand the market trends and the current situation in this region.
January 5th

Somsak, a concept planner in PPD, has been called into a meeting with Porntip, the department

manager and Tanaka Kentaro, the Sr. Coordinator.

Tanaka san: Good morning Somsak. As you know, the Bangkok International Motor Show will be

held in March. We have 20 TMC executives who are planning to visit the show in order to understand

the Southeast Asian market situation and trends. In the past, they were given a tour of the show, but

it lacked structure and they often missed show highlights. This year we will ask local AP sales and

marketing executives to guide TMC executives thru the show. It is our responsibility to highlight the

strengths and weaknesses of the Toyota and Lexus line-up in comparison to our competitors. We

want to make sure that our TMC executives understand which car concepts and technology trends

could affect our future ASEAN strategy.

Porntip: Somsak, we would like you to prepare a walking route and a guide book for the next show
th th
which is scheduled for March 5 15 .

The walking route should ensure that our executives see significant trends and what our competitors

are doing.

The guidebook should include all the basic information an executive would need for the show. It is

important to have the guidebook completed in advance of the show in order to prepare our AP

executives as tour guides. In addition to TMC executives, we are expecting at least one hundred

visitors from various Toyota companies, so please consider them as your customers as well.

There is a budget of 60,000 Baht and we will allocate two specialists part time to support you in the

project.

Somsak: Ok, thanks for the opportunity. I expect I have a lot to learn in a short time to get this done

well. Do you have any more specific expectations that I should consider?

Porntip: I suggest that you investigate if there are specific requirements from our AP executives.

Also, talk with Marketing Operations (MO) since they owned this activity until this year and they have

a lot of experience with motor shows.

2
And most importantly, work with the product planners in PPD to understand what details they want to

highlight. They can give you information about the competition also.

And, dont forget to consider a method to evaluate the understanding of TMC executives and confirm

that we have achieved our objective or not.

January 7th

As suggested, Somsak contacted MO and discovered that they had published motor show

guidebooks in previous years for company members and suppliers. They also used the guidebook for

Public Relations purposes. The responsible person was helpful and gave Somsak a copy of last

years guidebook and contact information for the printing agency they used.

Somsak found that the guidebook had some useful information but it didnt address the objectives of

PPD. He also found that the printing cost MO incurred for the guide last year was 40,000 baht for 200

copies. In addition there was 30,000 Baht in service fees for the printing agencies project coordinator

and editor.

Group Activity:
As though you are Somsak, create a plan for the development of the walking route and the
guidebook. Write the plan on a whiteboard/flipchart for review. Include the following items:
What is purpose of your work?
What is your Ideal situation?
What is your current situation?
Set your target and KPI
What is your action plan? (including key actions, implementation schedule, target, and KPI)

3
4
 STOP HERE!
Do not open next page until DO step

5
Case Study PDCA: Do
Walking Route and Guide Book for Bangkok Motor Show

After getting approval for his plan from Porntip and Tanaka-san, Somsak set it into motion.

Three weeks later

Somsak has coordinated with the Motor Show planners and received basic information regarding the

show including who will participate, what they will show, and significant features of this years show.

He also requested information from product planners concerning competitors, segment evolution, and

trends that he should highlight.

He had hoped to be done with his first draft of the tour and guidebook by now, but he only had half of

the information he needed and most of what he did have lacked the detail he wanted. At the result,

this task is not finished as planned and cannot get approve from Tanaka-san.

Concerning the walking route, he interviewed 10 ASEAN sales and marketing executives and noted

specific requests that they had, and integrated them into the draft.

He also interviewed five of the executive coordinators who had been tour guides last year. He noticed

that they all said they felt unprepared to guide others because they did not have the chance to see the

show prior to the day that they accompanied the TMC executives. So, they suggest that should

provide a rehearsal time before the show.

He met with the printing agency that MO had used last year. They reviewed the layout of the

guidebook and printing procedures. The printer suggested that an editing specialist review all of the

written content to check for grammatical and typographical errors. This was the process that MO

followed last year and it seemed to work well, but it would cost an additional 10,000 baht over last

year. The printing agency also informed him that they have a very busy month coming up, so the

editor would need a 3 week lead time.

6
Group Activity:
Create a status report for Porntip and Tanaka-san, highlighting progress, potential issues and
suggested actions to move forward.

Write the report on a whiteboard/flipchart for review. Include the following items:
What is your process status?
What is your results status?

STOP HERE!
Do not open next page until CHECK - ACT step

7
Case Study PDCA: Check - Act
Walking Route and Guide Book for Bangkok Motor Show

March 5th (Day 1 of Motor Show)

In the last few weeks prior to the show the following things occurred:

Guide Book:

The information on several competitor highlights was not complete by the time of print. Somsak

decided to go ahead with what they had rather than miss the printing deadline and potentially not

have the guidebooks ready for delivery on time. The printer was having a busy month and they were

backlogged, so what was supposed to be a 3-days process turned into a full work week.

When the printers came back with a mock-up copy to review before going to final print, Somsak

reviewed the copy with Porntip and Tanaka-san for their feedback. Although they did not like the fact

that there was information missing they understood that time was crucial and approved the guide for

production.

Three days prior to the show Somsak received the additional information regarding the exhibitors and

show highlights. He decided to print an update sheet and insert it into the guide books. This strained

his budget and the relationship with the printers.

Two days before the show start the printers delivered 200 Bangkok Motor Show Guide books as

promised. They were distributed to the AP executives who were to serve as guides immediately after

he received them. Moreover, they had no time for rehearsal as the last year guides suggested.

Walking Route:

On show day morning, Somsak held a briefing with the AP executive guides. He explained the key

points and highlights of the tour as they walked the tour route. Though he went thru the tour in detail,

some of the executives seemed unclear and slightly stressed after his explanation. He assured them

he would be available to come to their aid should they need him and provided them with his mobile

phone number. He made sure he was available throughout the day to support them if there were any

concerns, but he did not hear from any of them.

8
April 1st (Two weeks after the show)

Two weeks after the show, Somsak wanted to get feedback on the tour and guidebook. He asked his

stakeholders to complete a written survey, and he also followed up with a number of the AP

executives to hear their verbal feedback.

The overall satisfaction is 3.5 from 5 that less than the expectation.

Several executives noticed the error information for some of the highlights.

AP executives commented that several TMC executives interest in the boots (behind the

scenes) but they could not explain because they did not get enough information, and no these

information in the guide book. At the result, the TMC executive did not 100% get information.

Walking Route:

The respondents said that the tour route and flow was good and easy to follow. However, the AP

Executives were unhappy with the preparation time given them as tour guides. They were unable to

give tours with confidence as many of them had not had a chance to study or see the tour content in

the guide book until the day of the show. As a result in several cases the tour was done in less than
rd
30 minutes and cannot see all highlight of the show (used only 1/3 the planned time) because the

AP executives were unable to elaborate on the highlights.

Guidebook:

Somsak received feedback via his survey from 14 TMC executives,

20 AP executives, and 20 PPD members.

The results as

1. Quantitative results

2. Qualitative results

9
1. Quantitative results

1- Very Poor
2- Poor
3- Average
4- Good
5- Excellent

Questions Avg. Rating

a) Content

How would you rate the content of the motor show guide?

- Show overview and agenda 3

- Key Southeast Asian auto trends 2.5

- Highlights by model 3.5

- Highlights by technology 3

- Booth content (Toyota and Lexus) 2.5

- Tour route 3.5

- How would you rate overall content of the motor show guide? 3

b) Format

How would you rate the format of the guide? (layout, font, etc.) 3

How do you rate the overall logic flow of the information? 3

10
2. Qualitative results

Guidebook Quality Cause

a) Content

Booth layout maps difficult to read Copied from architectural blueprints

Motor Show highlights information did not Did not indicate when is or is not included on tour
correspond with tour

Summary information is inconsistent Content is not categorized or standardized

Information quality is varied. There was not defined information requirements

given to Product planners

Information incomplete Did not communicate clearly with Motor Show

planners what information was needed and by
when

Missing some key ASEAN competitor Did not clarify with PPD what was missing early
information. enough to correct it.

Visitors do not want to see Japanese Already know Japanese competitors

manufacturer booths

b) Format

Booklet format appreciated n/a

Technology highlights difficult to read Text font type was too small and dense

Key summary highlights are difficult to find Placement is in middle of the guide

Somsak was not satisfied with the results because his target score was 4. However, he realized that

there were plenty of improvements to be made for next years walking route and guide book.

He reported the outcome of the feedback to Porntip.

Porntip: Thank you for the results summary. Please develop a summary report to share this

information with all our stakeholders.

Somsak: OK, Ill have it to you for review first thing in the morning.

Group Activity:
Create a summary report to share with all stakeholders which includes;
The outcome for both result and process (use KPI from your plan as reference)
Which items should be resolved, standardised, or improved (kaizen) before next years
show?

11