Toyota had just 0.3% share of EVs sold in 2022-Goldman SachsTOYOTA CITY, Japan, Sept 19 - At factories in Japan's industrial heartland, Toyota
Elsewhere, three-decade-old equipment used to process parts can now be run at night and on weekends after being automated through robotics and 3D modeling, improvements Toyota said had trebled equipment productivity. Toyota revolutionised modern manufacturing with its system of lean production, just-in-time delivery and "kanban" workflow organisation. Its methods have since been adopted everywhere from hospitals to software firms and studied widely in business schools and boardrooms around the world.
It is not the only car company grappling with the challenges from shifting to EVs. Detroit's Big Three automakers have cited competitive pressure from Tesla as they push back against wage demands from the United Auto Workers union that last weekOne innovation being emphasised by Toyota is its self-propelled production lines, where EVs are guided by sensors through the assembly line.
Toyota says that reduces the time to change the mold to 20 minutes, versus 24 hours normally. It estimates a 20% boost in productivity.