Toyota High-Tech Industry Case Study

Toyota - Burnaston

High-tech industry case study

Location

The Toyota Headquarter factory is located in Burnaston next to Derby in Central England, United Kingdom. It is located in front of the Burton road near the East Midlands International Airport.

Background

Toyota is the world 's largest producer of cars. It was founded in 1992 in Burnaston. It has over 3,500 employees and has over 200 suppliers. Most of these suppliers and employees come from the United Kingdom. The Burnaston factory is Toyota 's headquarters because it was the first vehicle manufacturing plant. In this single plant 830 cars are produced every 24 hours.

Locational Factors

Toyota is located near Derby for various reasons; human factors include transport, labour,

Toyota is located on the junction of the A50 and A38 roads which both have connections with the rest of the country using roads M1, M6 and M42. This facilitates the transportation of the products to the rest of the country without paying a high price. It is also near the East Midlands International Airport and has rail links to all the parts of the United Kingdom. These links are important to transport the cars.

Moreover, there are many factories such as Rolls Royce and Bombardier in Derby therefore it has become a traditional manufacturing location consequently there is a large supply of skilled workers. Leicester and Nottingham Universities are all near Burnaston whom provide skilled graduates and research facilities which is beneficial to the Toyota factory.

The United Kingdom has a population of sixty-five million and the European Union has a population over five-hundred million therefore Toyota has a huge potential market to sell cars to. Moreover, Toyota can easily transport its cars to the rest of the European Union.

The UK also has a national electricity grid therefore everywhere in the country is connected to electricity so Burnaston has a reliable electricity supply even though Toyota has installed solar panels. There is also a broad internet coverage over the United Kingdom therefore advertising products is fast and reliable and the international communications are quick and

Physical factors for this location include flat land, room for expansion, greenfield site and pleasant environment. Firstly, the site in Burnaston was very flat therefore it was easy to build. Moreover, there is a lot of room for the site to expand which it already have. Also, there are large parts of the site in Burnaston that are farmlands so there were no clean up costs. Lastly, Burnaston is right on the edge of the Peak District National Park which means workers can live and relax in pleasant environment.

Imputs

The inputs needed to manufacture Toyota 's cars are: 2.35million meters squared of land, 1.15 billion euros invested to build the factories, 2,590 workers, 233 suppliers (tyres, paint and steel rolls), 50% of suppliers are in UK, 50% of suppliers are in Europe and Limited number of supplies from Japan.

Process

The activities or events that take place for a product to be made e.g. designing, painting and assembling. They include: Pressing (shaping) of metal panels, Welding of metal panels and components, Painting of car panels, Plastic moulding and Assembly – the putting together of all the