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It seems to be working: > "In an area Kawai directly supervises at the forging division of Toyota’s Honsha plant, workers twist, turn and hammer metal into cra
by SeanDav 12y ago
It seems to be working:
> "In an area Kawai directly supervises at the forging division of Toyota’s Honsha plant, workers twist, turn and hammer metal into crankshafts instead of using the typically automated process. Experiences there have led to innovations in reducing levels of scrap and shortening the production line 96 percent from its length three years ago."
- Animats 12y agoThat's how it was done at Chrysler in 1935.[1] Toyota's Honsha plant has had an automated crankshaft forging line since 1988.[2] I suspect this is a misconception. The Honsha plant was downsized in 2007. They have a lot of space there, and a "Museum of Production". They may have a manual forging setup as a training and demo operation, to give their employees a feel for how heated metal behaves during forging. A 1988-vintage automated forging line probably has too little feedback and too much brute power, and maybe too many die stages. Better employee understanding of the process may lead to a better. It's unlikely that Honda is doing manual forging for volume crankshaft production. [1] https://archive.org/details/0555_Master_Hands_18_27_28_00 https://archive.org/details/0555_Master_Hands_18_27_28_00 (start at 00:11:45) [2] http://www.toyota-global.com/company/history_of_toyota/75years/data/automotive_business/production/production/japan/general_status/honsha.html http://www.toyota-global.com/company/history_of_toyota/75yea...
- gregpilling 12y agowhich is exactly what I think the article is saying. So you are right.