History of Nissan in North America
Nissan first came to the United States to sell vehicles in 1958 and began importing and making Datsun vehicles in the United States under the Nissan Motor Corporation, U. S. A. (NMC) name in 1960. In 1990, Nissan North America Inc. (NNA) was created to coordinate all of Nissan’s various activities in North America to enhance the design, development, manufacturing and marketing of Nissan vehicles. In 1998, the two organizations merged operations under the Nissan North America, Inc. name.
NNA’s mission is to provide all Nissan and Infiniti employees and dealers with the tools they need for constant improvement and consumer satisfaction. Headquartered in Gardena, California, NNA coordinates all operations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico including automotive styling, consumer, and corporate financing and engineering. Nissan North America, Inc. markets seven vehicle lines through 1,100 dealers in the continental United States through its Fleet Sales operation.
In addition to the all-new Altima, the vehicle lineup includes the Sentra, Maxima, Xterra, Pathfinder, Frontier, and Quest. Synopsis of Cranston Nissan Case Cranston is a city under the Providence County in Rhode Island State. Cranston Nissan is in the business of selling new and used automobiles and providing automobile maintenance services. Cranston Nissan is also the only authorized Nissan body shop in town. Steve Jackson, the General Manager of Cranston Nissan has just received a letter from Sam Monahan, a customer who has experienced a serious breakdown in service.
Highlight of Order of Events
August 28, Mr. Monahan dropped his car off for repair of rust damage in the following areas: Roof-along the top of the windshield. Left rocker panel-under drivers door. Left quarter panel – near end of bumper. Rear body panel – under license plate. Between August 28 and September 13 Mr. Monahan experienced customer service at its worst. His vehicle went into the shop for body repairs and came out with several different mechanical repairs. Steve Jackson must identify the root causes of the problem and initiate remedial action. Purpose:
The case provides a detailed chronology of service problems encountered by a customer. The information provides the opportunity to:
- Categorize the service quality problems at a service facility.
- Discuss the probable causes of the service failures.
- Demonstrate the use of a cause-and-effect diagram.
- Speculate on the actions management should take to the situation.
Determine what the company’s long-term goals are. Categorize the service quality problems at service facility:
- Personnel
- Promised to call customer about the status of the job but never did.
Caused customer to take several long trips to dealership to pick up the car without offering a loaner car. Delivered car to customer with requested bodywork completed but several other mechanical problems created. No one ever tried to satisfy the customer. Service department required extra time on car as was “time consuming” showing lack of respect for customer . Shops. Fixed requested problems, but then created others. Gave body shop customer low priority in the repair shop. Could not repair car when promised.
Materials to repair vehicle not identified or ordered in timely manner No coordination between departments. No one in steps up and accepts responsibility, but rather, many employees are involved with the customer. Knew a part had to be ordered, yet did not order it. Lack of coordination between departments. Not in place for calling customer to provide status of work order . Product appearance (Output). Indicates that exterior parts were not replaced properly after job is completed. Reveals interior parts damaged by personnel.
Discuss the probable causes of the service failures. There are two primary causes for these problems. First, management has lost control of the very thing the company should excel in – customer service. No one is responsible for coordinating problems within two departments. Second, the company lacks a “quality culture”; employees should pride themselves in solving problems for the customer. An example of the lack of a quality culture is the actions of the employee who brought the car with obvious defects to the customer three times.
