While we're on the topic of Araco vs. Toyota auto body, here are some pics I scanned from the May '06 LC mag's tour of the plant..
Toyota auto body--Araco plant pics (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Jim_Chow
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Parking lot of chassis. They assemble 580 units per day. Looks like the front one is a LX by the wheels. A forklift carries the chassis into the assembly line.
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Body fabrication, seat installation....
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Quality control, final assembly line, finished vehicles. Note that as MOT mentioned in the other Araco thread, this plant assembles the LC100 and LC70.
Awesome pictures. Thanks for posting these, Jim.
I saw on National Geographic a tour of the peterbilt factory a few weeks ago. I was hoping to see something similar from the factory that makes 100s. Did not know it was Araco.
It would be really nice to know the design process. How they make their choices on materials, style, etc. For example, how they decided on IFS for the front, etc.
As an engineer, you know that your product will have some defects. The quality aspect is to catch the big issues early and let the less ugly issues slide because you cannot fix every single issue.
It would be really nice to know what the fiercest debates were about during the design process. And what were the decisions that were easy enough to be
.
I saw on National Geographic a tour of the peterbilt factory a few weeks ago. I was hoping to see something similar from the factory that makes 100s. Did not know it was Araco.
It would be really nice to know the design process. How they make their choices on materials, style, etc. For example, how they decided on IFS for the front, etc.
As an engineer, you know that your product will have some defects. The quality aspect is to catch the big issues early and let the less ugly issues slide because you cannot fix every single issue.
It would be really nice to know what the fiercest debates were about during the design process. And what were the decisions that were easy enough to be
.
thansk for the pics but hey a question for ya ok right and left hand vehicles have to be assembled in different areas yes? i cant see them having enugh room to hold the various parts for the seats and all on the same assembly line; they have to be done on another line or another plant?
i know the basic bones of the trucks are the same but it just doesnt look like enough room to switch seat contfigurations etc. when i was in australia i drove an lx and a lc but when i was in japan i was just a passenger in the back but they were the same ( the lx that is the lc was a bare bones one with cloth inter etc i think it was a gxl not the sahara one
oops i forgot to ask this also so all the lc and lx are made here for the whole world? do you know what percentage australia gets of these? they are everywhere there
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I believe all the 100 series made in the world are made at this plant. There's a figure of number of units and to which areas of world that I didn't scan. IIRC, it's on the order of 15-20K units to Oz. Most of them go to the Middle East (~38K units). There are two shots in the magazine showing the 100's rolling off the line. I scanned one of them, which looks like a left-hand drive Middle East unit. The other had right-hand drive with the headlight washer nozzles in the front bumper, so could have been an Oz unit. I don't know if they're running parallel assembly lines or not. Only MOT could tell ya that since he's taken the factory tour.
hoser
SILVER Star
There are a couple LC's that are not made at that plant... the LC Bundera comes to mind and at least one more. But like Jim said, all 100's are made in Japan.
wow i did not know middle east gets that many i have never been to that part of the world mostly asia etc south east asia and australia but i thought australia had the market for 100 ; they are all over the reason i asked i know australia has a real high tarif like the us does to protect their auto ind and i thought with so many 100's there toyota might build some there us has such a small import of them i dont know how they make a profit on them.
man i have to get better at typing and putting in punctuations its suppose to say usa has a small import of them
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I'll try to remember to look up the numbers tonight, but I recall the number of units exported to Oz are about the same as the number of units exported to all of the Americas (Canada, US, Central/South America). Figuring that the population of the US alone is like 300 million and the population of Australia is like 20 million, and we know about 10,000 LC/LX's are sold in the US annually, that's about 2,000 persons per LC/LX in Oz vs. 30,000 persons per LC/LX in the US or a 15:1 ratio.
Since building a modern auto factory costs like $2B USD, it doesn't pay to set up a plant in a country unless the expected sales are in the 100,000+ units and the vehicle's market is primarily that country. Since both the LC and Prado are international vehicles sold in 150 countries, it makes sense to build them in one central location close to the parts source. Then again, maybe toyota execs know that no other country can match the quality of those units produced in Japan and that would tarnish the LC's reliability image?
I never knew there was a domestic Australian auto industry. Maybe toyota execs figure Aussies will just bite the bullet and pay the higher tariff, thinking, "What else are they gonna buy that's reliable enough to cross the Simpson Desert?"
The LHD and RHD drive LC's are built on the same line, one after another, randomly.
Not sure about other manufactures, but Toyota paints the body and the doors at the same time, remove the doors to install a lot of the interior parts, only to have the exact doors to get attached back to the body later, to ensure the exact shade of the paint.
Also, all of the 100's and 70's are, AFAIK, built at the same plant (Yoshiwara Plant), but the GX470/Prado (and Surf/4Runner) are built at the Tahara Plant.
But as always, I could be wrong though.
Mot
Not sure about other manufactures, but Toyota paints the body and the doors at the same time, remove the doors to install a lot of the interior parts, only to have the exact doors to get attached back to the body later, to ensure the exact shade of the paint.
Also, all of the 100's and 70's are, AFAIK, built at the same plant (Yoshiwara Plant), but the GX470/Prado (and Surf/4Runner) are built at the Tahara Plant.
But as always, I could be wrong though.
Mot
the aussies are huge car people ford and holden are very big holden is like a subsid of chevy nayway its crazy because you see lc there like you see f150's here if you know the pontiac gto that was a monaro there and bob lutz brought it over if you have speed channel they have athing called v8 supercars which is what nascar was back in the good old days actual production cars minus the roll cage stuff that go racing very neat got to go to a race there when i lived there a few years ago thats where i fell in love with the 100 series we had one for a company car and i went all over in that thing its very hard to drive on the left side of the road after so many years on the right whats funny over there is the cars are all the same size but the lanes are narrower (sorry for the spelling
it was very freaky we had a camary and a lc and when we would come back for vaca to the usa the interiors would be flipped but exact mc toyota really knows his stuff
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[snip]
Also, all of the 100's and 70's are, AFAIK, built at the same plant (Yoshiwara Plant), but the GX470/Prado (and Surf/4Runner) are built at the Tahara Plant.
Mot
That's how I understand it, too. By any chance would the FJ Cruiser be built at Tahara? It would make sense, as it's based on the same chassis as the GX/4Runner/Prado.
Jim, great post and cool pics.
Interestingly, Toyota is now getting away from the idea of centralized assembly plants, at least with some lines. The Hilux and its derivatives (like the Fortuner) are being built in Asia: they have modular plants in India, Phillipines, Thailand and Malaysia. Apparently the labor is cheap and dependable, and the tariffs are much lower now, making this a better alternative.
I discovered this when my father-in-law in South Africa was looking at a Fortuner, which is their new SUV. It's so hot they can't keep them at the dealerships there. (He wound up getting the Prado, which I still think is the better choice.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Fortuner
Interestingly, Toyota is now getting away from the idea of centralized assembly plants, at least with some lines. The Hilux and its derivatives (like the Fortuner) are being built in Asia: they have modular plants in India, Phillipines, Thailand and Malaysia. Apparently the labor is cheap and dependable, and the tariffs are much lower now, making this a better alternative.
I discovered this when my father-in-law in South Africa was looking at a Fortuner, which is their new SUV. It's so hot they can't keep them at the dealerships there. (He wound up getting the Prado, which I still think is the better choice.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Fortuner
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Here's the beakdown of Toyota autobody exports (approx, 2005):
Russia/central Asia: 7000 LC100's, 100 LC70's
Middle East: 39000 100's, 10000 70's
Africa: 11000 100's, 7000 70's
Asia/Oceana (SE Asia, Australia, Pacific Islands, etc): 18000 100's, 8000 70's
North & Central/South America: 17000 100's, 5900 70's
Russia/central Asia: 7000 LC100's, 100 LC70's
Middle East: 39000 100's, 10000 70's
Africa: 11000 100's, 7000 70's
Asia/Oceana (SE Asia, Australia, Pacific Islands, etc): 18000 100's, 8000 70's
North & Central/South America: 17000 100's, 5900 70's
