By Kuanmanus & Wanmukda, BBA#16

After the midterm exam, we made a field trip to TOMY Ltd. (Thailand) as part of the IM 203 class to get a real-world experience. We were informed to meet at 12.30 on Thursday, April 9th. As the bus was leaving, everyone seemed to be excited. Some of us started taking pictures and singing all the way to the destination in Navanokorn Industrial Park. Upon arrival, we freshened up a bit, and then were taken to a room surrounded with a variety of toys, which reminded us our childhood.

The factory director showed up afterward, and gave us information about the company history. ?TOMY is the second largest toy production company in Japan, and very famous on its plastic rails, toys, and train models,? he proudly presented. We learned from him about the key systems that TOMY has been using in order to be as successful as today. Interestingly, all the strategies implemented are very similar to what we have learned in class, for instance, factory layout of cell system, Kaizen, MOQ, SCM, and JIT. It was quite remarkable to see materials learned actually applicable in the real business world.