Quality of Tacoma in Mexico verses Texas built.

Haha yeah there have been some cringe worthy misuses of "kaizen"

 

We as a people have come a long way when it come to manufacturing , I mean i remember my grandpa would say you were driving a really old car if it had over 50,000 miles on it , back in like the 60's . people will never be satisfied and I think everyone feels they deserve more than what they get. It just shows how full of ourselves we are

 

You made me chuckle thinking of one of the most ridiculous things they taught and tried to drill in our heads during Six Sigma and Kaizen Training, no joke they used 10 boxes of M&M's as an example of why it was totally unnecessary to do Quality Control checks.

 

Those two countries have the largest populations in the world, dwarfing our own population (and we come in 3rd on the list).

Statistically, it makes perfect sense that the number of immigrants from those places would far outweigh immigrants from everywhere else — even when ignoring all other factors.


USA: ~0,326,000,000
India: ~1,342,000,000
China: ~1,388,000,000
...
UK: ~0,063,000,000
AUS: ~0,024,000,000

 

Anyone that is interested to know, my Tacoma built in Mexico just sold at auction.

2016 TRD Sport DBL Long Bed
Mag Gray Exterior
Gray/Black Interior
Tow Package
Window Tint
Carpet Floor Mats

Mileage: 38,000

Dealer price before ttl = $29,733.00

Auction selling price: $28,200.00

 

50,000 miles would have been ready for new bearings and probably would have already had at least one valve job.

 

For what it's worth, I called a large volume dealer and talked to the service department manager about this.He recommended only buying a truck manufactured in San Antonio.

I had a new transmission and radiator installed in Mexico. I was 80 miles south of the border.The new transmission and radiator failed 30 miles out of town on the way home.The "New" radiator was installed with a sledge hammer to make it fit.The "new" transmission was fried just after driving 30 miles.

This mentally is ingrained in the culture.No amount of "Training " will change this. Outsourcing manufacturing to slave labor wage nations is a rotten deal for U.S. consumers and only benefits large shareholders , board members and upper management that hold large sums of stock options.

U.S. consumers are getting hosed on NAFTA & China trade deals as corporate lobbyist buy off congress and write the trade laws to benefit a few at the very top.

 

although i sympathize with your situation, i am not so sure all Mexican repairs are all that bad....and it surely is not indicative of slave labor...yes, we get what we pay for and for those of us who have had repairs done in Mexico and never had problems I am sure they are very happy...It depends on where you go and what the reputation of that repair shop is....my experience is in the Tijuana area and consists of mostly body damage and painting....cant tell the difference between US and Mexican workmanship.....and no fading or orange peel either after 5 years.....this is on my brother-in laws 2014 MBZ 350E.....so, make sure of the shop you go to.....go to one that has plenty of customers that you can check out before you plop down money...again, we get what we pay for and if you want it done cheaply, you know where to go...but don't be disappointed with what you get

 

Here is the bright side, all they want is the cheapest method possible to assemble a vehicle. That is quickly becoming robots. Robots seldom make mistakes which is good for consumers, and a lot of manufacturing will come back to the us when production is mostly robots. That will give plant management jobs back to Americans at least.

 

I doubt there is a lot of difference. As said, robotics play a big difference, but having pride plays a part, and I think both plants have that.

 

Your transmission does not come from Mexico and neither does your rad. So blaming it on NAFTA makes zero sense. You need to educate yourself on the agreement and how it works.

 

My Tacoma was built in Mexico and I haven't had any issues yet..

 

I will say that I for one am happy my truck was built in Texas. This article http://www.autonews.com/article/201...toyota-baja-simple-plant-does-a-complex-dance in particular highlights one thing no one else has noted.

Garcia points out a few examples during a tour.

A robot that applies urethane to the windshield has a human backup. On any given shift, as many as three workers can apply the urethane using a manual device.

“Every Friday, we shut the robot down and let our team members practice,” Garcia said.

And while Baja does have welding robots for work that is ergonomically difficult, a significant amount of welding is done manually, punctuated by flying sparks and a smooth, dancelike flow of workers and welding guns to avoid stress and injury.

Baja is the essence of basic car building, Garcia says, and evidence that “simpler is better.”

Seeing as how Kaizen believes in no waste; one could probably assume that the human backup that practices on Fridays does so on a live product going down the line. I will honestly say a robot that applies urethane in an uniform manner seems a lot better to me than someone training to do so in case of failure.

The welding also scares me. I have multiple friends with full wedding tickets and the amount of skill and precision it takes to do a good job is incredible. Untrained labor being paid relatively little vs a robot that will hit it's target probably 98-99%+ of the time would be my preferred choice.

 

Unless they build a robot to control and maintain the robots, then no need to manage the robots. If a car can drive on its own, I'm pretty sure an automated factory isn't far off.

 

What if the bots are made in Mexico?

 

Will Toyota ever build another plant, seems like they could sell many more tacomas if they could pump them out.

 

Mine does the same. It's the light with the metallic silver paint. I get the same question all the time too.

 

Yes.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Toyota-delays-opening-of-Mexican-plant-until-2020

 

My uncle was a power lineman supervisor up in New Bedford MA......hardcore union man for 42 years. Said it was the biggest scam.....same problem with people scamming the system.....couldn't fire people without going through all kinds of red tape, boards etc.
he said most never went through the process....they put up with it.

 

Very true!
Back in the early '90's I was living and working in Moscow Russia....same thing there. There was zero infrastructure. 140+ million Russians who had never had access to Lays potatoes chips, crest toothpaste, Sony tv's etc, etc.
There were tons of expats coming into Russia, mostly Moscow to tap into that virgin territory.
Customs in Russia was the rule of the law then.....corrupt as hell. Took awhile to open those markets up.