No machine can be compared with the human touch !

Lexus, the luxury brand by Toyota. What makes it the top selling luxury car in the USA? Was it the machine, the technology... ? No, the answer is the human touch

LEXUS - Spotting the chinks
Bangkokpost; ALFRED THA HLA

At the Tahara plant in Japan, it is still the human eye that plugs any slip in the Lexus armoury of robots and computers

A visit to Lexus' plant at Tahara in Aichi, Japan, turned out to be the anti-thesis of your prosaic automobile plant tour after which journos usually go home with the "been there, done that" impression.

Here at Tahara are 10 takumi or master craftsmen whose senses are sharp enough to catch even the smallest errors which robots and computers miss, to ensure Lexus' top-notch quality.

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Obviously the core aspects of automobile production were present at Tahara for everyone to see: stamping machines, welding robots, assembly lines, paintshop, wet polishing and quality inspections to name a few.

But this time, one senses the rich tradition and uncompromising attitude towards quality. Naturally every automaker from Mercedes-Benz to Nissan asserts similar claims, but this time it was different. Surreal and very zen-like. It felt like entering the inner sanctum of a craftsman of yore. From the get-go, we were introduced to the master craftsmen whose portraits adorned the walls like at a hall of fame.

These 10 living takumi are revered and referred to as the "Hands of God" who reign at the pinnacle of their area of specialty within the process of making a vehicle. Each master craftsman is the best in his field such as wet polishing and tolerance inspection.

Of the 2,700 employees at Tahara, there are 1,800 first grade workers, 600 second grade and 300 third grade or top level meisters.

Tahara plant tour

Handed Lexus caps, personal earphones and we were ready to go. We're greeted by unmanned carts tagging along like a small choo-choo train carrying components which snake through the factory floor space with warning signals and accompanying melodies. We stopped by a few work stations to see a couple of takumis explain their craft. Very solemn-looking men with zen-like concentration, they seemed to be wearing the wisdom of a thousand years on their face. As a result of the approach on flawless production techniques, the alignment of a car when parts are put together has been perfected to such a degree that when a Lexus driver lets go of the steering wheel at 100kph for 100 metres, the car will veer just 25cm, rather than the usual 75cm.

But what makes this plant special is that it makes its own components and engines. It is regarded as the parent plant of the Lexus brand (other major plant in Canada makes the RX model) and is the export base for the North American market with direct access to sea ports.

Statistical low-down

Tahara is not your average plant because it produces 610,000 Lexus vehicles from its three flexible production lines for both export and domestic markets. A Lexus is created every 91 seconds which should translate into about 675 Lexus vehicles per day (although 2,500 units was the figure given to us that day).

Three flexible production lines are housed at the Tahara plant - line I (208,000 vehicles) and line II (240,000) make sport-utilities and other Lexus products while line III (160,000) is responsible for Lexus passenger cars. It is regarded as one of the most highly computerised and robotised plants of its kind. All employees go through an air shower, although our delegation wasn't subjected to the cleansing process.

Tahara produces the LS, GS, and IS lines, including the new LS600h and LS600hL hybrids.

Toyota hi-end

Back in 1992 which was the eighth year of my US tour that took me from Macomb, Illinois to Los Angeles, California - I got my first glimpse of the second generation Lexus ES300 which retailed for about B875,000. Back then a dollar was worth about 25 baht. It's been quite a ride for the Luxury Export [to the] United States (LEXUS - Luxury EXport to the United States) and it's currently the most successful premium brand in the US. But Lexus was only introduced to Japan in 2005 to raise profitability in a shrinking auto market. Sales in Japan were just over 31,000 vehicles last year, a fraction of the over 300,000 units sold in the US market.

Toyota says that the essence of Lexus is a culmination of changes in people's conception of luxury which started out as desires of material, experience and something more meaningful and worthwhile such as psychological desire. Lexus' strategy is based on product, sales and communication. In short, innovation and manufacturing techniques, offer unsurpassed quality and applications and communicate Lexus brand through visitor and factory tours.

Thailand sold 362 Lexus vehicles last year, a fraction of the the 31,000 sold in Japan which in turn is also a fraction of what was sold in the US. But the common denominator, according to Toyota, is the Lexus commitment to product quality and Lexus dedication.

Where else can the human eye fine tune the work of state-of-the-art cameras zipping around robotic arms finding digital imperfections with a vehicle?

Only at Lexus.