Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/487054
XIII maltatoday, Sunday, 29 March 2015 Motoring Starting from €9,695 For more information contact: Michael Debono Limited 0GLQD5RDGĽHEEXã 7HO VDOHV#WR\RWDFRPPW ZZZWR\RWDFRPPW Toyota Gozo Showroom 0ãDUU5RDG ;HZNLMD;:.*R]R 7HO JJV#WR\RWDFRPPW Toyota Malta 5 year WARRANTY DEBONO F I N A N C E ONLY 5.5% VARIABLE RATE OVER 6 YEARS Toyota to 'reinvent' the car factory Toyota - The hybrid idea Toyota says its has completely re- thought the way its future car facto- ries will operate. Its plans for the new-generation factories - nicknamed 'simple and slim' - are well advanced. Toyota claims they will be 25% smaller than existing plants, require 40% less in- vestment and emit up to 55% less CO2. Toyota also plans to re-engineer the production lines so they can be shortened or lengthened in less than 80 minutes. It's claimed that a standard line can be shrunk from a 100,000 car-per- year capacity to just 50,000 cars, or vice versa. This would allow capac- ity to be easily reduced or increased depending on demand. The simplification of the line-side equipment is key to this, along with a new type of super-slim modular conveyor belt, which is laid on the factory floor, rather than being dug into a pit. In order to allow this new conveyor belt to be made longer or shorter, the line-side equipment – such as the arm, which holds the car's doors as they are swung into place - is mounted on wheels. Because this equipment is not physically attached to the ground or the structure of the factory, it allows the production line to become truly modular. This means adding extra features to an existing vehicle is now much easier, because a new worksta- tion can be added to extend the pro- duction line. Toyota will also remove the over- head conveyor lines from its new- generation factories. This, it says, has a number of useful knock-on ef- fects. The new factory buildings will be much more simply constructed because they do not need a heavy- duty structure to carry the weight of production equipment. Senior Toyota engineers said that the new production lines would get much more natural light and that the problems of cleaning and main- taining conveyors in the roof of a building had been eliminated. The combination of the surface- mounted conveyor and the removal of overhead lines led to Toyota de- scribing the new factory philosophy as 'no hanging and no digging'. Toyota production engineers have also dramatically shrunk the paint shop, traditionally one of the most expensive investments in any facto- ry. The current shops are 13m high, 6m wide and 189m long. Toyota's new compact paint line is just 6.5m high, 4.5m wide and 149m long. One of the new paint technologies is a Dyson-style giant centrifuge, which traps paint spray waste. The engineers say the new lines are 40% cheaper to build and use 40% less energy. Toyota also revealed a number of cost-saving advances including the new 'Laser Screw Welding' technol- ogy. This is not only over twice as quick as conventional spot welding; it can also weld both aluminium and steel sequentially. Heating up very high-strength steel structures, such as B-pillars, so they can be stamped in press tools has also been re-thought. Rather than taking between four and six minutes in a gas furnace to heat sev- eral sheets of steel on a 20m convey- or, Toyota's new machine can heat individual sheets to 900degC in just 10 to 20 seconds. The new machine, which is just 2m long, uses an electrical charge to heat up the sheet, which is then quickly transferred to the press tool. The new factories will also be pow- ered by a number of different energy sources using a new 'Factory Energy Management System'.These will in- clude ground heat pumps, Liquid Natural Gas-powered generators and a hybrid solar panel system, which simultaneously generates electricity and creates hot water. Defunct Prius battery packs could also be used to store electricity from solar panels. For several decades now, the automobile industry has faced three important environmental challenges: ambient air quality, climate change and energy supply and demand. In order to conserve energy resources and prevent global warming, there is a growing need to further improve the fuel consumption of vehicles. The idea of an alternative power- train for cars was already alive at Toyota in the 1960s. But it is in the early 90s that the company actually initiated a production-based development programme of environmentally-re- sponsible automotive technologies. The 1992 Toyota Earth Charter stated "Toyota's aim is to build clean, safe automobiles while working for aff luent societies and a green earth". The following year, this core policy was combined with a set of action guidelines to create the Toyota Environmental Action Plan. With the 1997 launch of the first generation Prius, Toyota insti- gated a modern day revolution in automotive electrification. At the time, the Prius' debut raised a lot of eyebrows and prompted many sceptical comments. However, Toyota's engineers and leaders were confident that their unique vision would, ultimately, be vin- dicated. Today, Toyota celebrates the success of its innovative full hybrid powertrain technology with sales of more than 7.3 million hybrid cars and, with its TS040 Hybrid racing car, both the driver's and manufacturer's titles in the 2014 FIA World Endurance Champion- ship. For more information on Toyota Hybrids and all Toyota models visit the Toyota showroom situated in Mdina Road, Zebbug, log on the Toyota Malta Facebook page or call on 2269 4000.