Fueling an Eco-Revolution

Toshiba International Corp.'s hybrid electric motor plant in Houston seems like something out of the future. But for Matthew Bates, plant manager, the future is now. 

The 45,000-square-foot plant, which only opened a year ago, more closely resembles a laboratory than a typical factory. A highly automated assembly line churns out HEV motors and generators, producing 125,000 sets per year for Ford's (IW 500/6) hybrid vehicles. 

See Also: Manufacturing Innovation & Product Development Strategy

"It's a very lean operation," Bates says, wearing the standard uniform for all employees of the HEV plant: khakis and a blue button-down shirt. 

The rhythmic precision by which the fully automated line creates the powertrain systems is in stark contrast to even the traditional induction motor plant housed next door. In becoming green, Toshiba (IW 1000/38) is indeed embracing lean. 

Toshiba's relocation of its HEV plant from Japan to Houston last year signals not only a commitment to North American manufacturing but also to the alternative-fuel vehicle market. Once a warehouse, the high-tech hybrid plant is capable of producing motors for Ford's Fusion Hybrid, Escape Hybrid and CMax models. 

Across the country, similar plants are being built to fuel the alternative-fuel vehicle revolution that is already under way on the roads of the U.S.

And just in time.