The production process of Toyota’s vehicles

In the Toyota plants, the vehicles pass through a long production line this process composed by several successive phases each phase include different steps to build different models of cars. After two phases of manufacturing process that are the development stage where a new model designed and developed, followed by the stage of preparation in this stage the team of workers and responsible realize technical analysis and diagnostics also a simulation to measure the performance and quality of the new cars model also the planning of the  production process. The production process composed of several successive and critical phases before the cars reach the last phase and become ready to be delivered to the dealership, then to the first final customers, the phases are as follows. Press shop, Weld shop, Paint shop, Assembly shop. Plastic shop, Quality assurance, Showroom or the sales line.

1. Press shop

In the press shop, the workers prepare first the huge quantity of raw material (steel) that they receive and they form smaller quantity and components to weld it to form each car. But there is a science behind the steel because it varies by how and where each type of steel will be used, then the work start after the role of steel delivered to each machine to coil and smooth the metal and cut it and forming individual panels which will be the structure of the base of cars. In the press shop a hundred of different parts produced, each part pressed in specific metal templates to give the specific shape to the steel, these realized by a sophisticated, huge and massive machine in the plants.

2. Weld shop

The next stage of the production process is the weld shop in this stage the pressed panels welded together to build the body shell for each specific model of Toyota’s cars, the body shell has its own tag to drive it through the production process and give it the engine specifications and color. Also, each team works on particular components and welding technique to form and build the sub-assemblies such as doors. Due to the variation of cars each model require different weld technics and steel characteristics such as thickness, width, strength, and weight. This stage of productions require both sophistical machine and skilled workforce to build the shaped shell, the check, control, and inspection is a must to verify the conformity of body shell and also to

correct the imperfection detected then add the panels to the underbody and welded to ensure the safety of cars

3. Paint shop (15 h)

This phase start by a preparation of the body shell to the painting and passing them to give it the anti-corrosion coating, then moved the body shells to bake them in specific oven for two hours in more than 200 degree in order to cure the paint and make it stronger and harder , also Toyota in order to ensure the hidden quality it paints the body shells with sealant this application requires skills and formed workers to give good look to the cars  this step followed by applying noise and vibration-damping material. The last steps are the application of the undercoat, middle coat, and top coat of paint by robots and human hands and heat-treated the cars in an oven, and check the vehicles to ensure the high and perfect painting, Before moving the vehicles to the next phase ‘the assembly shop’ they verify the availability of the assembly shop. To receive the painted body shells.

4. Assembly shop

The assembly shop is the heart of Toyota production process because it includes more than three hundred processes through three and a half hours . The body shells leave the paint shop and moved to the assembly shop in this steps the hard and speed work start, the doors removed to work on it in other station to have their trim, glass, speakers and mirrors installed. Each teamwork on particular elements to be achieved before the final assembly of cars when the mechanical components are installed in the chassis cars by each member how to carry Out its tasks carefully, quickly and efficiency followed by the last steps that are the setting of carpets and seats which are delivered in the journey of assembly also reattach the doors and add finishing exterior trim parts such as the windscreen wipers and badges.

5. Plastic shop

in this phase of the process where the plastics components produced to used them in the assembly line, the plastics from different grades softer and flexible are melt to form components bumpers, stiffer and with a different finish for dashboards.

6. Quality assurance

The quality assurance is the final destination of the high-quality car where the car faces the phase of the sternest test. The test includes an internal check by a qualified team which   check and examine every single part in the interior of the cars (15 min), also the external check of bodywork and exterior trim by specific tools, But detection of imperfection or defaults in this still as a surprise for the team because the cars pass through inspection at every end of the process by using the Poka-yoke then the engine test start and each car heads to a rolling road for a series of running and brake tests also the test every function the car will need to use in its lifetime. The team can confirm the engine and chassis quality involve using video probes to get a close-up view of brake union joints and other tricky-to-see areas. The last inspection is when Toyota’s car hit the tunnel to ensure that paintwork is up to standard and that there are no scratches or dent.

7. Showroom or the sales line

In this phase, the car becomes ready to start its life and it moved to retailer ship then to the first final customer. The inventory management Of Toyota vehicles: Toyota due to the TPS it arrives to manage very well its inventory this is by using the Just in time principal such as just in time production by producing what the customer needs, when it needed, in the quantity needed. Toyota uses the one piece flow to manage the inventory of cars this decreases the inventory of components of cars that take large space and require high carrying costs. Also, Toyota uses a Pull system –not a pure pull process- because it doesn’t start the work on news cars just if a new order comes to the company.

Toyota focuses on the idea of buying one, sell one it manufacture cars in about the same order customers buy them, that enables the company to carry less inventory. The idea that Toyota developed it basically focus on the quantity of work and the demand because the quantity of work that should be performed at each phase of the production process is defined and depend mainly and strictly by the demand for needed materials in the next step of also material is pulled to a workstation.

Just as it is needed this is exactly what we see in the above description of Toyota’s vehicles production processes, for example, the carpets and seats are delivered by suppliers to the Toyota plants  in the journey of assembly of the cars not before. Then the production with a smaller lot size includes the elimination of inventory within the processes. By following this, it results in the ordering of multipurpose vehicle equipment adhering to processing requirements for a single product line.