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Toyota gets 'radical' with manufacturing; Makeover will transform Japanese plant into model of innovation.

Article Excerpt
Byline: James B. Treece

A warning to automakers that have been closing the manufacturing gap with Toyota Motor Corp.: Get ready to play catch-up again.

Toyota, already the industry leader in manufacturing, plans to raise its game to a much higher level at its Takaoka assembly plant.

When Takaoka's makeover is completed in 2009, it will build more models, faster, on shorter assembly lines than any other Toyota factory. It will use innovative approaches in virtually every step of the manufacturing process, from stamping and welding to painting and final assembly. It will become a fount of ideas for the Toyota manufacturing empire.

Why? The head of Toyota isn't happy with recent quality issues, and he's pushing for "radical changes'' in Toyota manufacturing.

"I am confident that the radical changes being adopted by the Takaoka plant will make it a model for Toyota plants of the future,'' says Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe.

Watanabe also wants to save money. Toyota's current cost-cutting program is generating annual savings of $2.5 billion. Not enough. Give me more, Watanabe said. What's the new target? Toyota won't say.

Rethink everything

While Watanabe declined to offer details of Takaoka's makeover, he and other senior Toyota executives have spoken at various times about some of the innovations. They include:

* A welding system that slashes the cost of jigs and other tooling. The tools that hold steel in place...

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