Hybrid Synergy Drive – from vision to reality

Posted by Colin Hensley on June 15, 2009 in Green Technologies

As you know, last week I was in Japan on a trip we organised for corporate media to give them a real genchi genbutsu experience of our full hybrids. The star of the tour was the new Prius, and we were able to hear from company executives including Uchiyamada (Chief Engineer of the first Prius) about almost everything, from the styling to the development, right through to the manufacturing. We even had the chance to be the first group to visit the battery factory of PEVE a joint venture of Panasonic Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation.

Solar Panel check

The most impressive part of the trip for me was the visit to the Tsutsumi plant. This is one of the plants where the Prius is being made. There are two mixed lines and Prius is made on both. One has a takt time of 57 seconds, the other 66 seconds. The takt time is the length of time that is allowed for each of the action on the line. One action may be fitting the bumper, or laying out a part of the wire harness. Ultimately, the takt time is also the time between cars coming off the line. So about every minute a car drives off each line. I’ve attached a few of the photos I took, but they don’t quite convey the energy of the line or the incredible focus and dedication of the Team Members.

Tsutsumi is also one of our Sustainable Plants. The plant slogan is “Eco-cars are the product of Eco-plants and Eco-people” and they really do live this every day. For example, there’s a massive array of solar panels on the roof and the building is painted with catalytic paint that removes Nox from the air. Unfortunately, it was miserably grey and raining the day we visited, so there wasn’t too much power being generated. I’ll try to persuade one of my colleagues in Environmental Affairs to write a bit more about this plant in the near future.

Finally, the Toyota Technology Challenge, <drum roll please> and the winners were “Team Torpedo” of Queen Elisabeth Grammar School in the in the solar power competition, and “Team Mafia” from Beechwood Park School in the PIC microcontroller category. Well done to both teams!

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