Toyota Plant Visit - Tuesday July 1st - 12:30pm

[Brad M]

Evan, thanks man ... that was a very interesting day.

[AndrewR]

Spent a very enjoyable few hours at the Toyota factory, Colin said it all. Its a pity when we have a export quality facility that it will not be around in three years time, all that talent and expertise GONE!.
This may explain
Record loss for Toyota in
Australia with decision to
shut down plants in 2017
TOYOTA Australia's decision to
close its manufacturing operations in
2017 has had a massive impact on the
company's financial results, with the
car-maker posting a $437 million loss
for the past Japanese fiscal year.
The Japanese auto giant's Australian
subsidiary revealed last week that its
restructuring costs totalled $889 million,
which included $505 million in asset
write-downs and $384 million
for employee redundancies.
Without including the costs
associated with the wind-down
of production at its factory
at Altona, Melbourne, the
company turned a before-tax
profit of $266 million, which
Toyota attributes to exceeding
its cost reduction targets for a second
straight year and strong new-vehicle
sales.
Total revenue for the period April 1,
2013, to March 31, 2014, was down
$500 million to $8.4 billion.
Toyota announced in February
this year that it would pull out of
manufacturing cars in Australia in 2017,
leaving 2500 plant workers out of a job
and effectively bringing down the local
automotive manufacturing industry
following similar announcements from
Ford and Holden last year.
Toyota Australia president Dave
Buttner said that despite positive gains
in some areas of the business,
the decision to withdraw from
Australia dealt a heavy blow to
the company's results.
"Our employees worked
incredibly hard to secure the
investment for the new-look
Camry, which will be built in
our Altona plant from early next
year," he said.
"We also exceeded our cost reduction
targets for the second year in a row,
which was the result of a company-wide
transformation activity to strengthen
our business."

[Frank Musco]

Thanks for organising a very interesting afternoon Evan. I was particularly impressed with how clean the entire factory is kept. I didn't see a single thing that looked out of place, and amazed by the special air-lock passage into the painting area, seemed like something from a space station!

[Joe Garra]

Thanks from me as well. It was a fascinating couple of hours. Well worth taking some time off work for!

[Alfa156Melb1]

Fascinating tour!  Thank you Evan for arranging it.. One of the most interesting day's I've had in ages..

Watching the spot weld robots all work in unison - as Steve S remarked, felt a bit like a "terminator" movie! Machines building machines.. creepy.

Toyota's aren't exactly a laugh to drive - but I was so impressed at the level of quality, detail and ingenuity in this factory.  I won't be buying one, but I walked away with a lasting respect. A real shame that in 3 years it will be gone.

[Evan Bottcher]

We weren't allowed to take photos or video inside the plant, but this is someone else's video of the body welding line - fully automated with a line of robot welding machines.  Although this was probably the most mesmerising sight, the rest of the plant was equally interesting.  Watching an engine installed in less than 1m30s was fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82w_r2D1Ooo

[Alfa156Melb1]

Another interesing vid - this time a documentary on the actual factory..

http://youtu.be/Gbp5jRH5eCs

[Evan Bottcher]

Forgot to post this - for anyone who missed out on the excellent tour of the Toyota manufacturing plant, you can book yourself in by emailing planttours@toyota.com.au.  The tour is available to anyone, is free of charge, and I was told it's not hard to fit in individuals or small groups.

Highly recommended - I found it absolutely fascinating, and soon it will all be gone.