Toyota closed its São Bernardo Plant in November 2023, marking the top of its first abroad manufacturing facility. The closure caps off a interval of steady automobile manufacturing in São Paolo, Brazil, lasting over 60 years. The plant was dwelling to a Komatsu 700-ton press that predates Toyota’s carmaking enterprise itself. And now that the plant has closed, Toyota is bringing the press machine again dwelling to Japan, the place it would hold making spare elements and be used to coach staff.
The Komatsu press has been in use for 89 years, in line with the Toyota Times. The machine was purchased by the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works Automobile Department in 1934, and was put in in a plant in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture. Toyota was based in 1937, so the press is older than its guardian firm.
The Komatsu press operated on the automaker’s Koromo plant, which was later renamed the Honsha Plant. It was moved to Brazil in 1962 when Toyota do Brasil’s São Bernardo plant got here on-line. There, the press helped Toyota make a reputation for itself in South America with the Bandeirante mannequin, which roughly interprets to “pioneer” or “scout.” That was the Portuguese identify of Toyota’s Brazilian Land Cruiser, produced within the nation from 1962 till 2001.
After manufacturing of the Bandeirante resulted in Brazil, the Komatsu press stored making elements for Corolla and Hilux fashions via the 2020s. Toyota closed the plant the place the press operated, citing a must consolidate manufacturing in Brazil throughout three different different crops within the nation.
Some staff got the choice to relocate or retire, however the Komatsu press will hold working at its authentic dwelling within the Honsha plant. Toyota’s Latin America and Caribbean Region CEO, Masahiro Inoue, tells the Toyota Times that the press helped begin the corporate as we all know it right this moment:
Inoue says, “It’s unbelievable that a Japanese company made and purchased such a large item before the war. It must have been incredibly expensive. I speculate that it was largely funded by the money earned from selling Toyoda Automatic Loom Works patents to a British company, which also funded the establishment of Toyota Motor Corporation. I believe it must have been expensive.”
After session with Chairman Akio Toyoda, the corporate determined to protect this traditionally beneficial press machine via “functional conservation” (maintained in a production-capable state).
The machine will likely be reinstalled in the identical location inside the Honsha Plant the place it stood 60 years in the past, persevering with its position in producing spare elements. Additionally, it’s slated for use in coaching staff in die upkeep and different associated duties.
The 700-ton press performed a key position in Toyota’s historical past, which is why the corporate is transporting it throughout the Pacific Ocean from Brazil to Japan. The São Bernardo plant is even reportedly the birthplace of the Toyota Production System. Both the press and the manufacturing facility the place it operated characterize a collection of firsts for Toyota: the plant was the primary abroad manufacturing location that the corporate opened; and the Bandeirante was its first manufacturing car that was made outdoors of Japan. That could also be why the press will dwell on.
Source: jalopnik.com