Mazda Motor Corporation on Wednesday began operations at the company’s Ujina Plant No. 2 —known locally as U2.
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President and CEO Hisakazu Imaki joined employees to watch the first car a Demio, known as the 2 outside Japan, come off the assembly line.
U2 was first established in December 1972 and had been the production site for many models, such as the Familia/323/Protegé. It was closed in September 2001.
Re-opening operations at U2 is part of Mazda’s product-led growth plan. By reopening U2, and ending painting and assembly operations at Hiroshima Plant (known as F-Plant) in April, Mazda’s domestic production capacity has increased by 110,000 units (14%), expanding from 788,000 units to 898,000 units annually.
The U2 plant uses Mazda’s three layer wet paint system which reduces the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC) by 45%, while contributing to a reduction in energy consumption that reduces CO2 discharge by 15%.
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By GlobalDataThe system combines the primer coating process into the top coating process – primer, base coat and clear coat are applied continuously and baked, all layers at once, in the top coating process. Mazda claims to be the first carmaker to apply this technology to the entire vehicle body.
The working environment has also been improved by the introduction of a kit supply system that delivers necessary parts to the hand of a worker at an appropriate time and a ‘just-fit-conveyor’ system that reduces the number of operations that require difficult working positions.
The new U2 plant can handle changes in vehicle production requirements and volume adjustments thanks to flexible manufacturing equipment and a conveyor system that facilitates production of various products ranging from the Demio/2 to MPV minivan. The system also responds to model changes almost immediately.
A flexible conveyor and flexible manufacturing equipment has been introduced to accommodate products of nearly all body sizes. In the past, this approach has resulted in as much as a 75% reduction in investment needed for new products.
Aided by simulation technology of Mazda Digital Innovation (MDI) and the introduction of the kit supply system and just-fit-conveyor system, new model production can be prepared in just two weeks.
