France

Established in France in 1993, Toyoda Machinery and Engineering Europe (TMEE) maintains its lead in the local market in grinding machines and machining centers for the booming automotive industry. Its clients include such powerhouses in the global automotive sector as Renault, Toyota, Fiat and Volvo.

Currently, Toyoda France is responsible for sales and the maintenance of 300 sets of grinding machines used by dozens of auto and auto component producers throughout Europe. Being the first Japanese company to produce these machines, Toyoda is especially proud of their universal grinding systems, which are employed to manufacture camshafts.

Company President Takashi Nakato ensures that Toyoda keeps up with the new demands of the automotive components sector.

"Camshafts change specifications with each new model of car produced. Our flexible grinder can change them with the push of a button," explains Takashi Nakato, president and director general of Toyoda Europe France.

Toyoda's brand of grinding machines also reduces cycle and changeover times for an entire plant and does away with the need for an operator. These machines are guaranteed to make operations more efficient and, consequently, more cost effective.

"Between 50 and 70 percent of machine tool suppliers sell only the machine itself. But Toyoda is not like that," emphasizes Nakato. "We specialize in application engineering: how to fix the component; how to cut the component; how to reduce the cycle time."

Aside from making sure customers are satisfied, Toyoda also ensures how to best integrate the grinding machines into the production process. "One cycle time is 2-3 minutes. So, 20 or 30 pieces can be produced every hour. The customer does not want to the machine to stop for a minute. Toyoda transfers this maintenance technology to the customer to keep operations at their peak continuously," he adds.

Meanwhile, Toyoda has been adapting to the rapid evolution of the automotive industry. "In the past, the objective was to produce as many of the same cars as possible," explains Nakato. "Now, the younger generation demands unique attributes for the same model. The advantage of using our machines is that they make the production facility flexible, and greatly aid in delivering the car to the customer on time, with their unique specifications included."

Nakato also predicts drastic changes in the automotive industry soon: "We should have new machines that will produce new components for the electric cars in the future. This will ensure our success and satisfy our customers for decades to come."

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