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Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.:
Step 4 - Create Action Plan
Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America (TMMNA) oversees manufacturing operations for vehicle assembly, parts, and materials in North America. TMMNA operates assembly and other manufacturing plants in nine states as well as Mexico and Canada. Toyota was founded on the principle of continuous improvement, and received the ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Awards for Energy Management in 2005 and 2006.
Industrial Partner Since 2003
Awards & Recognition
- Partner of the Year 2005
- Sustained Excellence 2007,2006
- Sustained Excellence 2008
Contact Information:
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
25 Atlantic Avenue
Erlanger, KY 41018
859-746-4000
In Practice
4: Create Action Plan
Planning for Energy-Efficient New Construction
Toyota recognizes that planning for energy efficiency when constructing a new building and installing process equipment is more cost effective than retrofitting after construction. To help ensure energy efficient designs, the company involves its well established energy management program team to review projects and provide guidance. Toyota has made energy design feedback an integral part of both new construction and expansion projects. Design feedback sheets are developed by the corporate energy team in response to proposed designs, and provided to plant construction and process installation groups for each project to ensure maximum efficiency within the project budget.
This process has helped Toyota planners justify any slightly higher costs of designing more energy efficiency into equipment since decreased production costs are better understood. At one facility, design feedback implemented by one project team in plant construction and facilities equipment modifications is expected to reduce energy consumption by 0.315 MMBTU/Vehicle compared to a nearly identical existing plant.
4.1: Define Technical Steps and Targets
Define Technical Steps & Targets (at the facility level)
Commitment to continuous improvement of energy performance requires having systems in place to identify opportunities for energy savings. Toyota accomplishes this through their successful plant energy assessment format which they call a "Treasure Hunt." A Treasure Hunt is a plant-wide assessment conducted to find energy reduction opportunities, and takes place in the span of a weekend. It is Toyota's primary means of identifying opportunities to implement concepts from their energy reduction database at a specific plant.
The Treasure Hunt uses the combined knowledge of the energy team and plant engineering, maintenance, and production staff members. After the hunt, all opportunities identified are prioritized based on payback periods and difficulty of implementation. The three most significant energy saving opportunities identified are presented in an "out brief" or closing meetings by the Treasure Hunt team. Events like this have allowed Toyota to continually improve their energy performance, decreasing energy intensity 8% while increasing production 4% in 2005 alone.
Seeding Process Energy Use Improvements
In a motor vehicle assembly plant, the process of painting vehicles accounts for 50% of total plant energy consumption. In addition to being one of the most significant energy users, vehicle painting is also one of the most important and complex parts of the manufacturing process. Consequently, proposing energy efficiency changes has frequently met with resistance from the process operators. To overcome this resistance, Toyota's energy team took a small step by funding a pilot project to transfer energy from the exhaust stream of paint booths to the supply stream, known as "enthalpy recovery."
The pilot project was implemented and met savings expectations without compromising quality. After this success, Toyota then moved to install this technology in six other plants. These projects alone reduced CO2 by 3,100 metric tons, while also reducing water use by 105,000 kGal.
