Well, it takes under 2 hours to build the
engines, and your car can be ready around 16 hours after that!
Obviously, the faster you can screw one together, the more
efficient your plant, and the more profit per vehicle. So
which company is most efficient? Do you have to ask? Toyota,
scores again.
Nissan
Frontier
According to the annual Harbour Report
released last week, Toyota has passed Nissan as the most
efficient producer of vehicles in North America. Auto News
also reported that the General Motors Oshawa, Ontario, No. 1
plant passed Nissan’s Altima line in Smyrna, Tennessee, as
the most efficient assembly plant in North America, using
15.85 labor hours per vehicle. The Oshawa No. 1 plant produces
the Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo cars.
Harbour Consulting of Troy, Mich., measures
the productivity of North America’s automobile factories.
Toyota Motor Corp. cut its total labor hours per vehicle 5.5
percent from last year’s study to 27.90 hours, according to
the report. Total hours are calculated using production at
stamping, power-train and assembly operations.
“Toyota’s labor productivity lead
equates to a $350 to $500 per vehicle cost advantage relative
to domestic manufacturers,” said Harbour President Ron
Harbour. He noted that Toyota has placed more emphasis on the
Toyota Production System and the automaker is aggressively
spreading standardized manufacturing processes throughout its
plants.
Nissan, traditionally the leader in
assembly plant productivity, saw its overall labor hours per
vehicle climb 4.8 percent to 29.43 hours. The reason: The
automaker introduced several redesigned products in 2004,
including the Maxima sedan, Pathfinder SUV and the Frontier
pickup at its Smyrna plant.
Also, the Altima line at the Smyrna plant,
which last year ranked No. 1 at 15.33 labor hours per vehicle,
scored 16.10 hours per vehicle in this year’s report. Yet
the Altima, Maxima and Xterra SUV lines at Smyrna placed among
the top 10 assembly plants in hours per vehicle.
In the overall labor measurement, the Big 3
scored within 2.6 labor hours per vehicle of each other -
ranging from 34.33 hours for GM to 36.9 hours for Ford Motor
Co. Both Ford and DaimlerChrysler improved their total
hours-per-vehicle score 4.2 percent from last year, while
GM’s score improved 2.5 percent.
Over the past three years,
DaimlerChrysler’s total hours score on the report has
improved 19 percent. And the automaker’s Belvedere,
Illinois, plant broke into the list of top 10 vehicle assembly
plants. The plant, which builds the Dodge Neon car and is
preparing to convert to a five-door vehicle that will replace
the Neon, ranked No. 7 on the list. “Unlike its past
recoveries, Chrysler is making broad improvements that
permeate beyond manufacturing,” Harbour said. “This will
provide more consistency in future market fluctuations.”
Among average assembly plant productivity,
the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont,
Calif., was the top-ranked company at 21.78 hours per vehicle,
down 0.6 percent from last year’s report. The plant is a
joint venture between GM and Toyota. (Amazing just who is in
bed with whom, at any one time, in the auto industry!)
GM ranked second in average assembly plant
productivity at 23.09 hours per vehicle. In fact, four of the
top 10 assembly plants were GM plants.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp.’s (world-wide)
decline in sales hurt the productivity score of its plant in
Normal, Illinois, which ranked last among company averages.
The plant saw its labor hours per vehicle jump 17.5 percent
from last year’s report to 29.89 hours per vehicle. The
Harbour Report also measures productivity at stamping and
engine building operations. Toyota shines in both areas.
Toyota led in stamping productivity at 1.37 hours per vehicle,
a 28.3 percent gain from last year’s report. Harbour noted
that Toyota got a report-record 775 average parts per hour
from its stamping operations.
Toyota’s four-cylinder engine plant in
Buffalo, W. Vancouver, was top-ranked in the report, needing
only 1.88 labor hours per engine. But GM had four engine
plants ranked in the report’s top 10, with the Tonawanda,
N.Y., plant ranked No. 3, and the Spring Hill, Tennessee,
plant at No. 4.
