The most fascinating part of the entire trip was the Toyota plant tour. This was the very reason we even went to Nagoya.
Nagoya is home to a lot of Toyota employees. It has a Toyota museum and a lot of Toyota-related facilities. But the real world headquarters of Toyota is in Toyota city, about 40 km from Nagoya. That was the place we went to.
The tour started off in a showroom-cum-museum that was located in the campus. We saw working models of the cars of the future. There was this really cool car which was controlled by a joystick that was made by the Research and Development wing of the company. Then, we saw some awesome Lexus sports cars and some fuel cell cars. After that, we heard a Toyota partner robot playing the trumpet!
Next, we went on a 15 minute bus journey to the Motomachi Plant. They make 73000 cars a year here. There are about 4000 employees of Toyota working only in this plant. The cars that are assembled here include the Crown, the Mark X and the Estima. After a short orientation on what we can expect to see, we went inside the sprawling building. First, we saw the welding process. The whole task is completely automated. Each robot had a specific function. For example, one would only place a vacuum on the iron debris at the end of the process. After they were done with a car, the robots waited for their next prey.
We just observed the marvellous welding shop for some time and then went to the assembly area. There were robots here too, but there was some human activity too. We saw the workers fitting parts into the half made cars. All the vehicles were on an assembly line, and were moving. The workers had time to do what they were supposed to do only as long as the car was in their territory, which was about a meter long. When the car passed the line marking the end, they had to go to the next car. They hardly had time to breathe, and speed and efficiency was of the essence. We also tried doing what the workers were doing, but we couldn't possibly match their rapidity. According to our guide, the employees in the plant went through a lot of stress, which is the reason they organize activities for them frequently.
Then, we saw the fully automated chassis assembly. Both parts of the car were exactly aligned, and then the bottom part was pulled up. This was one of the last steps in the manufacturing process.
We saw only a fraction of a Toyota factory but not once did it fail to amaze us. What we saw cannot be fully expressed in words. If you were to ever visit this beautiful country, I would wholeheartedly recommend that you visit Toyota city.
Nagoya is home to a lot of Toyota employees. It has a Toyota museum and a lot of Toyota-related facilities. But the real world headquarters of Toyota is in Toyota city, about 40 km from Nagoya. That was the place we went to.
The tour started off in a showroom-cum-museum that was located in the campus. We saw working models of the cars of the future. There was this really cool car which was controlled by a joystick that was made by the Research and Development wing of the company. Then, we saw some awesome Lexus sports cars and some fuel cell cars. After that, we heard a Toyota partner robot playing the trumpet!
Next, we went on a 15 minute bus journey to the Motomachi Plant. They make 73000 cars a year here. There are about 4000 employees of Toyota working only in this plant. The cars that are assembled here include the Crown, the Mark X and the Estima. After a short orientation on what we can expect to see, we went inside the sprawling building. First, we saw the welding process. The whole task is completely automated. Each robot had a specific function. For example, one would only place a vacuum on the iron debris at the end of the process. After they were done with a car, the robots waited for their next prey.
We just observed the marvellous welding shop for some time and then went to the assembly area. There were robots here too, but there was some human activity too. We saw the workers fitting parts into the half made cars. All the vehicles were on an assembly line, and were moving. The workers had time to do what they were supposed to do only as long as the car was in their territory, which was about a meter long. When the car passed the line marking the end, they had to go to the next car. They hardly had time to breathe, and speed and efficiency was of the essence. We also tried doing what the workers were doing, but we couldn't possibly match their rapidity. According to our guide, the employees in the plant went through a lot of stress, which is the reason they organize activities for them frequently.
Then, we saw the fully automated chassis assembly. Both parts of the car were exactly aligned, and then the bottom part was pulled up. This was one of the last steps in the manufacturing process.
We saw only a fraction of a Toyota factory but not once did it fail to amaze us. What we saw cannot be fully expressed in words. If you were to ever visit this beautiful country, I would wholeheartedly recommend that you visit Toyota city.
