Toyota consolidates the automotive industry in Mexico

TMMGT is considered the Toyota plant with the highest technology worldwide

Industry 4.0 is part of the essence of Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Guanajuato (TMMGT), which is considered with the highest technology worldwide by the Japanese company to incorporate the New Toyota Global Architecture (TNGA) in English).

This is due to the fact that it has sustainable systems and innovations in the engineering installed in the manufacturing processes for its optimization, improving the quality and efficient manufacturing of vehicles, aimed at achieving sustainable growth, with the reduction of energy and water consumption drinking through a treatment plant to reuse it 100 percent.

This plant is a model for the manufacture of vehicles in the future, so Toyota aims to be a world leader.

In addition, within the strategies of the Japanese shipowner it was planned that the operations be flexible for this factory, with the possibility of adapting to the changes and needs of the global market in terms of increasing the number of vehicles and with the power to produce some other company model, but at the moment they only plan to build the Tacoma pick up truck.

Juan Francisco García López, president of TMMGT, said that one of Toyota's challenges for 2050 is that they announced that they will implement electrification in their fleets to achieve a 90% reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions .

So it is required that by 2025 they already have an electrified version of all their models, and in five years later the majority sale of the company is under this concept.

This plant has new technology, which is developed in Japan and is focused on making the processes more robust, reliable and efficient, as well as environmentally friendly, as in the paint plant, which has an innovative process that reduces the pollution.

ARRIVAL FROM TOYOTA TO GUANAJUATO

On November 14, 2016, the Japanese shipowner laid the first stone of its second plant in Mexico, choosing Apaseo el Grande, Guanajuato as its headquarters.

Although initially it was announced that they would manufacture the Corolla model; In the middle of 2017 they modified their production strategy to meet customer demand in the North American market.

“There is a global trend towards the trucks because the consumption of compact vehicles is reducing, so we decided to change the production of Corolla to Tacoma, we saw that it was a winning change for the plant since all its volume will be concentrated in the operations of Mexico ", said.

TMMGT represents an investment of 700 million dollars and will directly employ more than 1,000 associates who will be in two shifts and will produce 100,000 units annually when it reaches its maximum capacity, which added to the capacity of Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Baja California, The total pickup trucks will be 266,000 units that will be produced in Mexico in 2021.

Although in 2015 they had confirmed the investment of 947 million dollars for the Guanajuato plant, managers expect to comply with that figure.

“It was a commitment we made with the state. It was delayed, but eventually it will be done, ”said Luis Lozano, director of institutional and legal relations at Toyota Mexico.

TARGET MARKET

95% of Tacoma trucks manufactured in Mexico will be exported to the United States and Canada, while the rest will remain in the national market.

Lozano said that one of the benefits that Guanajuato has is its position within Mexican lands since it has access to all types of transportation such as rail, land and sea, in the latter they can enter the two coasts of the United States that are in the states of California and Texas.

Another of the qualities they saw in Mexico is the amount of free trade agreements that it has with other countries, so they do not rule out diversifying exports to other regions such as Hawaii and Puerto Rico, destinations where this type of sale is sold. pick ups

"For now we have only announced the Tacoma towards North America, but we don't close the doors so that in the future it will be exported to other regions," he said.

REGIONAL CONTENT

For the planning of the production process of Tacoma trucks, the Japanese company relied on suppliers that are already established in the region and are in the existing production chain in the 12 plants they have in North America, with whom they collaborate to achieve greater regional content

And with the announcement of its second investment in Mexico, they attracted 7 Japanese companies, with around 240 suppliers.

"El Bajío is par excellence an automotive industry area and a large number of suppliers that were already part of Toyota in other locations, we were able to take advantage of and locate the part of the supply here," he said.

For this reason, Grupo Toyota considers it as a competitive advantage so that the growth of the business in the locality is favorable, since they do not have to make great adjustments within the North American value chain.

HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT

Currently, the shipowner has hired around 1,000 employees, but they have plans to increase their workforce by adding a little more than 400 employees, in order to have a second shift to achieve the production objective.

The TMMGT president explained that the company reiterates its commitment to the Mexican market and, in turn, to the development of the country through the generation of employment, which will benefit thousands of families in Guanajuato.

Since 60% of employees come from Celaya, while 40% are from Apaseo el Grande and surrounding towns, regions where they will seek to contribute to the community and human development that is considered Toyota's strength.

“Currently, we employ 1,000 people, but there are still more direct jobs to be integrated. Indirectly, through suppliers, the shipowner generates more than 10,000 jobs, ”he said.

He stressed that in this region of the country they have found good profiles in the workforce, mainly in engineering levels since they have detected skills in the skill and the desire to do things well.

And to continue hiring the workforce with outstanding skills, they have made agreements with local institutions such as the Tecnológico de Celaya; in turn, within the company they are developing preparation programs, but they do not rule out the opportunity to create a training center that contributes to the growth of human talent.

“We are happy to be in this region and we know that we can compete globally and I think we will prove it very soon. The production quality is excellent, right now we are in the eyes of the corporation and this is due to the quality of the people we have here, ”he concluded.

TMMGT DATA

• Investment: 700 million dollars

• Location: Apaseo el Grande, Guanajuato

• Model to be manufactured: Tacoma

• Production capacity: 100,000

    units per year

• Employees: 1,400 employees

    (60% Celaya and 40% Apaseo el Grande)

• Indirect jobs: 10,000

• Suppliers: + 240

• Export: 95% to the United States and Canada

NEW TOYOTA GLOBAL ARCHITECTURE SYSTEM

• Manufacturing method based on the use of modular platforms on which many of the new models of the Japanese company will be manufactured.

• They create a master mold from which several modular platforms are derived on which the different segments of the brand are mounted.

• The approach is the standardization of certain phases of the process, from the exterior design to the use of common components in the interior or in the mechanics of the vehicles.

GUANAJUATO IS POSITIONED AS THE CLUSTER OF MEXICO

With the arrival of Toyota in Guanajuato, the region is consolidated as the automotive cluster of Mexico and Latin America by having five automakers installed in its territory that are: General Motors in Silao, Honda in Celaya, Mazda in Salamanca, Toyota in Apaseo el Grande and Hino Motors in Silao, which generate 17,600 job opportunities.

TOYOTA WORLDWIDE

-Toyota has commercial operations in Mexico since 2002 and its first plant was established in 2004, in Tecate, Baja California.

-In 2019, Toyota produced 10.7 million vehicles globally.

-Toyota has 67 plants worldwide, 10 of them in North America and employs more than 370 thousand people worldwide.

AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY IN MEXICO

1.- Contributes with 3.7% of national GDP and with 20.9% of manufacturing GDP.

2.- Mexico is the third largest exporter of vehicles worldwide and the sixth largest global producer of this type of goods, measured in volume.

3.- During 2019, exports of light motor vehicles were 3.33 million units; while total production accumulated 3.75 million units.

4.- In November 2019, a total of 978,834 people were registered.

5.- The automotive industry is the main recipient of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with 14.9% of the total and 28.5% of the manufacturer in the last ten years. (2009-2018), with an accumulated value of 45,052 million dollars.