The best is never good enough - Opinion & Analysis - Toyota global body production line improves productivity - Column

Automotive Industries,  Oct, 2002  by Ron Harbour

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When it comes to athletics, the best always seem to know how to stay ahead of their competition. They have some innate ability to elevate their game to a higher level.

The same can be said about automotive manufacturing.

Every automotive company is working to improve its manufacturing systems and processes, to get leaner and more cost efficient. But somehow, the best companies manage to stay ahead of the pack because every time the competition gets closer, these benchmark performers take themselves to a new level.

We were reminded of that fact during a, recent trip to Georgetown, Ky., where visitors got a chance to see Toyota's new Global Body Line in action. Toyota--along with Honda and Nissan, the industry's leaders in assembly productivity--all have been ahead of their global rivals in the development of more flexible manufacturing operations.

Flexibility is one of the biggest keys to improving manufacturing productivity, In fact, I would argue that over-capacity, one of the North American automotive industry's biggest challenges today, is actually a flexibility issue.

Historically, most automakers have had plants that not only build specific types of vehicles--cars, trucks or SUVs--they sometimes are limited to specific models within each segment. As a result plants that are producing hot-selling vehicles often are spending lots of money on overtime and other related costs, while other plants are underutilized but without the capability to build the more popular models.

Consequently, plants that cannot support a company's production needs also are draining dollars from the bottom because they are likely to be producing slow-selling vehicles and operating at less than full capacity levels.

This lack of manufacturing flexibility at the plant level is one of the biggest reasons why companies have too much capacity.

Even though they have led the way in manufacturing flexibility, Honda and Toyota have recently developed all new weld and vehicle assembly processes that have given them even more production flexibility. What Toyota displayed at Georgetown was a new process that increases flexibility, but also is leaner, more cost efficient and produces better quality than before.

Toyota has offered a slightly different twist to the new body weld systems and processes developed at Honda and Nissan. Traditionally, the various parts of a vehicle body are loaded into a clam shell-like weld fixture that engulfs the total body. Although the parts are held in their proper positions, there is little access left for welding.

What Toyota has developed is a jig that enters the roof opening and holds the body's perimeter together from the inside out, which keeps the entire body exposed for welding. The welding process is much more flexible--greater access to the vehicle allows for more welds to be done, and for separate decisions whether to use automation or manual welding processes for low-volume situations.

The bottom line is that Toyota's new system is much more flexible, and allows for better body welding.

In this day and age, there is no way automakers can predict where the market is going to go, or which model will turn out to be the next big seller. In this scenario, the companies that win in the marketplace will be the ones with the flexibility to match cost quality and productivity with customer demand.

Every company is working to become more flexible. But Toyota is striving to be the Tiger Woods of automotive manufacturing. Thanks to its new body assembly system, Toyota has added a new weapon to its arsenal, and has once again raised its game to a new level.

RON HARBOUR is president of Harbour and Associates, manufacturing consultants in Troy, Mich.

www.harbourinc.com.

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