Production Engineering Strategies and Metalworking at Toyota Motor Corporation

Vehicles consist of a large number of products of different shapes and sizes. These products can be manufactured very efficiently by metalworking. Products manufactured by metalworking also have superior mechanical properties, such as strength and elongation; these are useful in reducing vehicle weight which leads to improved fuel efficiency and performance. In addition, these products help to reduce cost. Toyota Motor Corporation considers metalworking as a source of competitiveness and has continued to develop innovative metalworking technologies over many years as a means of responding to changes in the social environment and customer needs. This paper describes the history of this innovation, explains the current challenges, and also discusses the direction of future innovations.