Replacing 20-year old ones, the new furnaces are the fruit of a collaboration between Toyota and the Welsh Government, who invested £375,000 from the Economic Futures Fund.
The Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK Engine Plant in Deeside has been a mainstay in North Wales since production began in 1992. Employing over 600 people, the Deeside Engine plant manufactures ZR hybrid engines and includes high-and low-pressure aluminium casting, precision machining of major engine components, assembly and testing of finished engines.
The plant also provides engine testing facilities for Europe. In 2021, the plant was responsible for the production of 264,454 engines, headed for markets in the UK, Turkey, and South Africa.
Unveiled on 7 July 2022, the new aluminium melt furnaces represent the best available technology and are the culmination of months of planning and preparation, as well as a stellar example of the ways in which Toyota is continually making incremental changes towards the Toyota Environment Challenge 2050 goals.
The new furnaces really are a win for everyone, allowing our plant to spend less money on energy, while investing in the local economy and making the job much better for members working in the plant as they use a quicker, easier process.
Welsh Minister for the Economy, Vaughan Gething who joined the inauguration event was profuse in his praise for the new melting furnaces as they will have two-fold positive impact on the economy and the planet.
While increasing productivity through innovation is a key aspect of the motivation for upgrading the furnaces, the furnaces will also help to address other concerns. Producing engines requires significant energy as it involves melting ingots of aluminium at approximately 560°C, a process which produced a lot of carbon emissions and cost a lot in energy.
So, when emissions peaked in 2002, the TMUK-Deeside accelerated its “brains not money” Kaizen approach to reduce emissions and energy costs.
