Motor manufacturing giant Toyota has officially reopened its Prospecton plant in Isipingo, south of Durban. The plant had been closed for more than three months due to extreme damages during the floods which ravaged Durban and other parts of KwaZulu-Natal in April. The plant was also affected by floods that hit the city in 2017, but not as severely as this year’s heavy downpours.
Toyota operations up and running:
Once the floodwaters subsided, the company began the laborious process of cleaning and servicing electronic equipment used on production lines. The damage to the facility cost billions in clean-up and retooling.
BIG NEWS! Today TSAM has some exciting reveals for all our customers on how we have triumphed from the recent floods in KZN through sheer resilience, determination and our commitment to #RebuildingBetterTogether. Stay tuned for more! pic.twitter.com/7x28Ws9EgZ
— @ToyotaSA (@ToyotaSA) August 16, 2022
Each year the plant produces approximately 540 000 vehicles. Production was halted for three months following the recent floods and approximately 4000 vehicles had to be discarded. Electronic vehicle parts were also damaged beyond repair.
All equipment on the production lines had to be cleaned, tested and faulty components replaced.
Who’s ready to join us on a plant tour? First up is the Press Plant, the red line is the “Flood Level Line”, where water and mud had filled the plant’s floor and equipment. The team has worked tirelessly to clean up and #RebuildingBetterTogether pic.twitter.com/0bY60GNfcj
— @ToyotaSA (@ToyotaSA) August 16, 2022
“There was an incredible amount of damage to our plant with mud all over our site but today we are pleased to announce that we are back. We are back into production, we have restarted all our production lines and export lines. This was a very very big milestone for us. Of course we are not back to full [productivity] but we will get there in the near future,” said Toyota’s CEO in South Africa, Andrew Kirby.
Kirby says despite the losses incurred, of the 7 500 staff employed on at the plant, no jobs were lost. Moreover, the company have additional contracts and suppliers on the site who are very reliant on the business they get from Toyota.
Your locally built vehicles are almost ready to take on SA roads once again. Here’s a sneak peak at the Assembly Plant fully operational once again. #RebuildingBetterTogether pic.twitter.com/o6uERDTB13
— @ToyotaSA (@ToyotaSA) August 16, 2022
Newly appointed Premier of KwaZulu-Natal Nomusa Dube-Ncube spoke at the reopening of the Toyota plant and said the resumption of activity would boost the province’s economy.
“We were very excited last year when the Toyota [South Africa] management went to Japan. They were given an opportunity to manufacture the hybrid car which would be the first time that vehicle would be manufactured outside Japan. Unfortunately, the floods in April affected those plans,” says the Premier.
What a way to end off our plant tour. We arrived at the end of the assembly line just in time for us to get a sneak peak at the newly built Corolla Cross GR-Sport coming off the line and coming soon to a showroom near you! 😍😍😍#RebuildingBetterTogether pic.twitter.com/rCVnZrM24A
— @ToyotaSA (@ToyotaSA) August 16, 2022
She adds that plans to manufacture Toyota’s hybrid cars in Durban will continue ahead, and the plant will be able to meet their commitments to their suppliers in Europe.
All the vehicle production manufacturing lines are now up and running. The company is hoping to manufacture at least 120 000 to 130 000 vehicles by the end of the financial year.
REOPENING OF TOYOTA PROSPECTON PLANT BY PREMIER NOMUSA DUBE-NCUBE AND MEC FOR EDTEA SIBONISO DUMA https://t.co/hi0WkbwgUb
— KZN Provincial Gov (@kzngov) August 16, 2022
