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Lexus/Toyota assembly plant Tahera, best in the world, 2nd year in a row

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Old 02-23-04 | 08:16 AM
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Default Interesting article on Lexus/Toyota assembly plant

Once again confirms that the Lexus and Toyota line of vehicles are built to different tolerances, even though similar platforms...

http://www.detnews.com/2004/specialr.../a15-70498.htm



Cheers,

Fern
Old 02-24-04 | 05:34 AM
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Default Plant rankings

I'm not sure I believe those GM plant rankings right under the Toyota/Lexus ones......Honda/Acura traditionally has been right behind Toyota in build quality. I've seen GM and Cadillac build quality, and it's a long way from Honda's.
Old 02-24-04 | 08:44 PM
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Robot-filled Tahara sets standard for Toyota, world

Japanese facility puts focus on details

By Christine Tierney / The Detroit News

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It is the benchmark of benchmarks: Toyota Motor Co.p.’s untouchable Tahara plant on Japan’s eastern coast.

In 2003, for the second year in a row, J.D. Power and Associates bestowed its highest honor — the platinum award for best quality worldwide — on the Tahara factory that produces Lexus and Toyota vehicles.

Owners of models built at the plant, including the Lexus GS 300 and 430 and LS 430 luxury sedans, reported 63 defects per 100 vehicles — about one-third fewer than owners of premium cars built at the best BMW AG and Mercedes-Benz auto plants in Germany, according to J.D. Power data.

Conceived during Japan’s economic boom, the plant was filled with robots, amid fears of labor shortages and Toyota’s great faith in automation. As one of the automaker’s newer plants, it also allowed Toyota to experiment with new manufacturing ideas and production methods.

Set on a small peninsula on the Mikawa Bay, the factory was designed to be “worker friendly” to attract a new generation of workers who had viewed factory work as dirty, arduous and dangerous.

“It’s one of the most beautiful plants, and very neat and tidy,” said Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Koji Endo in Tokyo. The setting is lovely, too, with fishing on the quays outside.

Built in 1979, “Tahara was actually considered a mistake because it was much too automated,” said auto analyst Maryann Keller of Maryann Keller and Associates in Greenwich, Conn. In terms of costs, “it was not a competitive factory when they built it.”

The sprawling plant is air-conditioned. Computer-controlled robots do the heavy lifting and dirty work. More than 95 percent of the stamping, welding and painting operations are automated, while plant workers focus on the trim and final assembly — the details a customer notices.

Today, Tahara produces 460,000 vehicles a year in its two body shops and three assembly plants. In addition to Lexus exports, the plant complex assembles Toyota’s domestic luxury car, the Crown, the RAV4 sport-utility vehicle and three other models.

Rival luxury automakers may murmur that Lexus cars are merely “souped-up Toyotas” because the two brands share a wide array of parts. But suppliers to Toyota know better.

Tahara sets and demands the highest standards.

Toyota, already a stickler for quality, will not accept components if defects exceed 50 per million parts shipped. In contrast, for Lexus vehicles, Tahara managers insist on fewer than 10 defects per million parts.

From the outset, former plant manager Kousuke Shiramizu, now executive vice president in charge of product and product engineering, established that the margin for error for Lexus vehicles would be half what it was at Toyota.

On average at Toyota, air leaks from car exhaust systems are held to 100 liters per minute, to reduce noise. On Lexus models produced at the Tahara plant, the ceiling is a stingy 8.6 liters of air per minute.

The plant’s strict quality checks include a final stretch of inspections for cars coming off the line under the unforgiving glare of very bright lights.

Toyota also tinkered with changes in the assembly line organization at Tahara, establishing several sub-assembly lines so temporary stoppages would not halt all production.

“Tahara’s the next plateau,” said consultant Dennis Pawley, former manufacturing chief at Chrysler. “Rather than having one continuous line, they’re going against the old adage and breaking up the line.”

Living up to Tahara’s standards keeps everyone at Toyota plants around the world on their toes.
Old 02-25-04 | 07:57 AM
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I know I may be sounding like Bill Clinton here, but as far as this plant's rating of 63 defects per 100 vehicles, maybe we need to define the term "Defect" for its purpose here. Obviously, it could mean ANYTHING from a minor scratch in the paint or trim to having the whole engine or transmission fall right out of the car when you put it in gear.

My personal definition of the term " Defect " would be anything that, by agreement of both the factory and customer, would require warranty work done free of charge. This, of course, would include recalls.
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