Japan’s TOYOTA CITY – To compensate for lost ground in battery electric vehicles, Toyota (7203.T) has turned to self-propelled assembly lines, enormous die casting, and even traditional hand polishing at its factories in Japan’s industrial heartland.
The most popular automaker in the world believes that by fusing new technology with the well-known lean production techniques it has employed for decades to extract inefficiencies, including excess costs, out of manufacturing, it can catch up to Tesla (TSLA.O) and others.
Last week, the automaker showcased some of its most recent developments during a plant visit in central Japan. It also displayed instances of frugal innovation, such as a method for producing high-gloss bumpers without the need for paint. The bumper’s luster is manually polishing the mold to a mirror sheen.
Other three-decade-old machinery used to produce parts can now be operated overnight and on weekends thanks to robotic automation and 3D modeling advancements, which, according to Toyota, have tripled machinery productivity.
During the trip, Kazuaki Shingo, the company’s chief product officer, told reporters that “the strength of Toyota’s manufacturing lies in our ability to respond to changing times.”
He said the “TPS,” an abbreviation for the Toyota Production System, is a stronghold for engineering and technology knowledge.
Toyota revolutionized modern manufacturing with its just-in-time delivery, lean manufacturing, and “kanban” workflow organization techniques. Since then, its techniques have been used in hospitals and software companies everywhere, and they are frequently discussed in boardrooms and business schools throughout the globe.
Toyota’s rise from a post-war upstart to a global powerhouse was aided by its constant focus on cost reduction and ongoing improvement. But another indefatigable developer, Tesla, which has leveraged its own efficiency to generate market-leading profitability, has outpaced it in battery EVs.
After years of criticism that the manufacturer of the popular hybrid Prius was dragging its feet in embracing fully electric technology, Toyota revealed an ambitious plan to increase the number of battery EVs in June. This was a significant move under new CEO Koji Sato.
According to a June report from Goldman Sachs, Japanese manufacturers will only make up approximately 0.3% of the global EV market in 2022. A more potent model would be the “missing piece” in its inventory.
It is hardly the only automaker coping with the difficulties of switching to EVs. Detroit’s Big Three automakers have pointed to competitive pressure from Tesla to counter the United Auto Workers union’s pay demands, which resulted in an unprecedented simultaneous strike last week.
ASSEMBLY LINE, GIGACASTING
Toyota is emphasizing its self-propelled production lines, where electric vehicles are directed by sensors throughout the assembly line. The technique allows for more flexibility in production lines and eliminates the need for conveyor equipment, a significant cost in car assembly.
In a demonstration, EVs crawled along without a roof, enabling the insertion of parts. Fanuc (6954.T) lowered the automobile seats into the EV bed using a robot arm. An autonomous forklift nearby removed more seats from a container.
A prototype of the “gig casting” die-casting process, which was developed by Tesla and produced aluminum parts much more significant than those previously utilized in the auto industry, was also displayed by Toyota.
Toyota claims it will construct EVs in modular portions to cut down on parts, similar to Tesla. However, it also highlights some of its advances. It has years of experience dealing with die-casting and has created molds that can be swiftly changed, which is occasionally required in gig casting.
Toyota claims that instead of taking 24 hours as usual, changing the mold now takes 20 minutes. A 20% increase in productivity is predicted.
The manufacturer has also launched a self-driving car robot that transports new automobiles across a 40,000 square meter (10 acre) parking lot at the Motomachi facility in Toyota City. Normally, drivers would accomplish this before loading cars onto carrier trucks.
Truck drivers must walk an average of 8 km (5 miles) a day to get automobiles, which cuts their driving time and increases their physical workload in a position with a high turnover rate.
The automaker stated that other plants would be considered after ten of the robots are operational in Motomachi by the end of next year. The robots might also be sold to other businesses.
