| All-New Toyota Tundra Assembly Plant Advances Benchmark Toyota Production System
On-Site Supplier Avanzar Production Network Raises Quality, Efficiency, Speed and Environmental Focus To A New Level
The first 2007 Toyota Tundra full-size pickup truck rolls off the assembly line at Toyota's all-new Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas (TMMTX) production facility Friday, at a ceremony attended by Texas Governor Rick Perry and Toyota Motor Corporation President Katsuaki Watanabe.
The ceremony marks the arrival of a vehicle that will give Toyota, for the first time, a formidable entry in a segment once considered the exclusive domain of Detroit automakers GM, Ford and Dodge. Perhaps more significantly, the event marks the opening of a production facility that will immediately establish itself as Toyota's most innovative; a plant that will elevate the Toyota Production System (TPS), widely considered the industry benchmark in quality, efficiency and technological advancements, to a new level.
"Our facility will introduce numerous recently patented production and assembly advancements that, for now, must remain proprietary," said Don Jackson, vice president of TMMTX production and quality. "But even more important to establishing a new benchmark for the Toyota Production System, will be how a vast network of 21 separate parts and components suppliers have been incorporated and integrated on site. TMMTX will be the first automotive assembly plant to integrate numerous supplier parts-production facilities on the same grounds and, in some cases, under the same roof, as the main assembly plant."
One such example is Avanzar, a new joint-venture between Detroit-based Johnson Controls and a San Antonio-based minority-owned company that will build seats for the new Tundra. The company has a facility on the TMMTX grounds that will build steel seat frames. The finished frames are then shuttled less than a mile to a receiving dock of the Avanzar production facility located under the same roof as the main assembly plant.
The frames provide the skeleton for front and rear seating systems that are assembled to order, as needed, on the TMMTX assembly line. For example, an order is received from the factory for a bucket seat set of specific color and fabric design, for a specific truck. Each truck has a katashiki, a specific recipe, detailing every variable from trim level to color to seat configuration.
The seats are built, then mounted onto an elevated track system that connects the Avanzar production facility with the main assembly plant. Less than an hour after receiving the order, the seats arrive at the assembly point, less than five minutes prior to the arrival of the truck in which it will be installed.
"Because Avanzar is on site, it eliminates the need to transport the seats from a remote factory," said Jackson. "There is no need for component packaging and no freight costs. This eliminates land fill waste and reduces the environmental impact of fuel consumption associated with freight movement. More importantly, with the production facility virtually in house, we have a close connection with the supplier, should component quality issues be detected. The ability to significantly shorten the duration of any quality issue is a huge advancement and certainly makes my job easier."
Like Avanzar, the Reyes Corporation is a San Antonio-based minority-owned joint venture with Lear and Amtex. The on-site Reyes plant produces interior plastic trim pieces, as well as carpet sets for the new Tundra.
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