ABSTRACT

In the thirty-five years since it is founding in 1947, Arakawa Auto Body, a member of the Toyota group, has continued to develop along with the automobile industry and is one of the foremost makers of automobile bodies in Japan. The firm is expanding in two directions, producing land cruisers and Coaster, High Ace, and Commuter microbuses on the one hand, and all types of interior accessories for passenger cars on the other. Small quantities of a wide variety of door trim are produced according to design differences in shape, color, type of material. It was thought quite reasonable, before improvements were carried out on the 150-ton hydraulic presses and the 40-kw high-frequency welders that inventories would accumulate because of large-lot production. Blade preparation had been an internal setup operation before improvement, but in the new configuration, blades can be prepared on a blade preparation bench while the press is running.