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Your steel parts stamping senses are
assailed by the sound of dozens of dies slamming together with up
to 500 tons of force. The smell of hot oil on metal fills your
nostrils. Because of the noise, heavy equipment and sharp steel
parts stamping, team members wear more protective equipment here
than in any other area of the plant: steel-toed shoes, long
sleeves and pants, gloves, safety glasses and ear plugs.
This is steel parts stamping, where each weekday nearly one
million pounds of steel are trucked in and transformed into 121
different parts for the Tacoma, Corolla and Vibe.
Other employees usually associate two things with Stamping – long
hours and good pay. Team members typically work up to 50 hours a
week to meet the demand for parts, some of which are shipped to
Canada.
The process begins with the arrival of large steel coils, which
come in various widths and thicknesses and weigh as much as 48,500
pounds (more than 24 tons) each.
Team members check the specifications, brush off any debris, and
then feed the ribbon of steel into a machine that washes, brushes
and rinses the metal. From there it passes through 11 straightened
rollers that flatten steel parts stamping. |
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