toyota motors corp.

yesterday's excursion to the toyota motors headquarters in nagoya was really interesting! the first stop was the toyota tsutsumi plant! they have this press stamping, welding, painting & assembling plant. Guess what, the ratio of workers to robots... 1:1! never seen such many robots ever in my life... all we get to see is aibo... really amazing...

for your info, toyota motors was established by toyoda-san... can't remember his first name... well, then you must be wondering why "toyota"? if you know katakana, toyota has 8 strokes count compared to toyoda with 10 strokes count! the japanese too, love the figure number eight! the kanji character for "eight /hachi" resembles a mountain and that means prosperity to the japanese as well! interesting huh? oh ya, and toyota sounds much much clearer when pronounced! besides, toyoda-san wanted the company to be known as the "employees" company, rather than a "family business" and therefore, TOYOTA is chosen! toyota was formerly known as "koromo".

the "just in time" concept, founded by toyoda-san, and now adopted by most of the big corporations in japan, is to produce "what we need at the time when it is needed, and in the amount it is needed"! therefore, this helps reduce the amount of piled up stock and parts... besides, the "jidooka" concept is to make sure that defect does not pass on to the next level of production, the problem or whatsoever arosed is soleved there and then... it has got something to do with the "loom" invented by toyoda-san and the patent was later sold to a UK company to raise fund for the development of automobiles...

oh ya, the plant runs the "mix production" concept... one plant will produce 1900 units of cars of 9-10 models... differents models (prius, camry, opa etc...), different colours all at one time... cool huh? therefore, car buyers wouldn't have to wait for like 6-9months (in malaysia) to get their car delivered to them... however, the "just in time" concept still play an important roll here... to see the employees all work so very hard, especially at the assembling plant and the final inspection section... there are female employees too! oh ya, those who are interested in working with toyota motors will have to sit for an entrance exam and go through the interview... in japanese of course!

between toyota and lexus... they are all actually manufactured by toyota motors actually... the reason behind lexus' launch in the states is because it's kinda difficult to do it under the name of "toyota", as "toyota" has established itself as a brand for mini cars and typical sedan, to introduce automobiles of the higher range like the suv to compete with GM and Ford in the US community, they have to do it under another name... the targeted market for both toyota and lexus is really 2 different group of people... thought you wanna know! oh ya, and they are bringing lexus back to japan next year, around may...

oh ya and the hybrid technology... fuel economy... eco-friendly... the recycling percentage for toyota motors is 87% and i think that is really high! they are not really into fuel cell R&D at the moment... and guess who's driving for toyota for the F1's new season... ralf schummacher (did i spell that correctly?) hahahah!