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Japanese carmaker Toyota has turned to self propelled assembly lines, massive die casting and even old-fashioned hand polishing as it aims to make up for the lost ground in battery electric vehicles.
The world’s top car manufacturer believes that employing the traditional practices will help the company close in on the gap with Tesla and others. Its new technology combined with old methods, which it has used for decades wring inefficiency, including excess of costs, out of manufacturing.
In one of the glimpse of the automaker’s plant, it showed off examples of thrifty ingenuity, such as a technique to make high-gloss bumpers without any paint. The mold is hand polished to mirror finish, giving the bumper its lustre.
Amid the tour, the Chief Product Officer Kazauki Shingo told reporters, “The strength of Toyota’s manufacturing lies in our ability to respond to changing times.”