Marko Hanželic
The latest version of Toyota luxury Century model currently manufactured at the Tahara factory in Japan. This new SUV, the first to carry the Century badge, is painstakingly handcrafted by a dedicated team of 40 skilled workers selected from a workforce of 1.500. In order to secure a place on the assembly line, these workers had to pass a rigorous three-part exam.
Hiroki Tanaka, one of the workers who was selected for the team had to complete a mandatory course and pass a certification exam to secure a place on the team. The exam consisted of three modules: an initial assessment of basic skills, a written test covering the history of the Century model, vehicle structure and related topics, and a practical test that demonstrated skills in assembling the luxury series.
"The written exam was more difficult than the practical one, as it contained 200 questions, but I passed it by going through the books heavily for the first time since my student years," he told toyota times. “I learned a lot of new things, from the history of Toyota and the Century model to the unique high-quality techniques of building a car. It was an invaluable experience.”
The thirty-five-year-old worker has been employed at Toyota since 2007. As a graduate Academies for technical knowledge and skills he says he was thrilled to start working on the line right away land Cruiser, as it was his dream car, and his work soon allowed him to buy it himself.
His experience in composing chassis of Land Cruisers they prepared him well for his current job attaching suspension components to vehicles Century. His work is particularly important, since any defects are known on the rest of the vehicle.
At Toyota, precision is always at the center of attention, at luxury Century but it became a real obsession. While the automaker allows a 20 percent torque deviation from spec on its typical vehicles, it only allows a 5 percent deviation on the premium SUV.
“On all assembly lines except Century, each nut or bolt is tightened in a single pass with a clamping tool,” he said Tanaka. "On the Century assembly line, due to the strict accuracy requirements, we first tighten by hand with the help of a jig, and then again with a fastening tool to get closer to the target torque. Finally, we use a digital torque wrench whose torque values are transferred to computers, working manually to get the final value.”
Tanaka says it is proper functioning more difficult, as it seems. This is especially true under the vehicle, where torque values tend to be higher. He says that in any job that requires more than approx 150 Nm of torque, putting the whole body into tightening, which makes precise adjustments difficult.
This means that it can take up to a minute to tighten larger parts, which is 12 times more than the five seconds it takes workers to tighten the nuts and bolts on other vehicles. This means that Toyota produces only three examples of the model per day Century.
On the Century assembly line, selected workers are divided into one of four specialized departments: Trim, which is responsible for managing components such as dashboards and roofs; Chassis, which takes care of PHEV engine installation, suspension and battery installation; Final assembly, which deals in seats, doors and windows; Tuning/Fluids, which controls tasks such as engine coolant and brake systems.
The result is a beautifully finished SUV, proving that despite all the automation in modern car factories, craftsmen are still key to making the best vehicles.
