Employees at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) facility in Cambridge, Ont. don’t go straight to work after they are hired. First, they’re trained in TMMC’s Global Production Centre using high-tech innovations such as virtual reality and simulators and low-cost measures to improve efficiencies and prepare employees for what life will be like on the shop floor.
Last month, TMMC received a Gold award in the 2025 J.D. Power U.S. Initial Quality Study, which recognizes the world’s top automotive plants. TMMC’s South plant builds Lexus’s best-selling RX SUV. Plant awards are based on the lowest number of customer-reported defect/malfunction problems per vehicle after the first 90 days with a new car.
After 35 years in Canada, Lexus sees success but faces tough questions as it eyes price increases
Toyota is the largest auto manufacturer in the country with 8,500 employees working at three TMMC facilities in southwestern Ontario that produce more than 500,000 vehicles a year. About 18 per cent of those are sold to buyers in Canada.
Here are five innovations at the training centre:
At TMMC, employees train on this fork lift simulator, which avoids crashes and damage while learning how to use it and drive around the shop floor.Petrina Gentile/The Globe and Mail
Fork lift simulator
This fork lift simulator enables employees to practice driving a massive fork lift in a safe, controlled environment. An employee sits on a stationary fork lift fitted with the same controls. Three large screens display a replica – a digital twin of the manufacturing floor in front of them.
Using artificial intelligence, drivers perform a variety of exercises to hone their skills. They replicate manoeuvers, moving through pylons and picking up palettes virtually to master using this large piece of equipment in a quiet, safe and efficient manner. If there are any mishaps, such as bumping into racks or running over pylons, it’s harmless because there’s no damage done to the property or equipment. Trainers can change the screens to replicate any area of the floor and provide real-time feedback to employees while they get comfortable and learn the lay of the land before driving on the busy shop floor.
Virtual reality quality control
In quality control, workers don virtual reality headsets to find discrepancies in the paint finish on a Lexus RX. Using augmented reality in the virtual world, a worker sees computer-generated 3D images and instructions through the VR headset.
The digital information walks them through a series of standardized work steps, integrating them into the surrounding environment so workers learn skills such as where to position their hand when opening the door. Paint imperfections are also highlighted through the headset so the workers learn what they should be looking for when assessing the paint quality as they work on a real-life Lexus nearby.
This technology develops muscle memory, compresses the training time and is an efficient way to learn and practice new skills.
While wearing a virtual reality headset, a workers shows how she is looking for paint imperfections.Petrina Gentile/The Globe and Mail
Karakuri
On the factory floor, employees only have 80 seconds to work on a Lexus RX before it moves down the line. That’s why Toyota uses “Karakuri” solutions – a 2,000-year-old Japanese practice focusing on simple mechanisms such as gears, pulleys and levers to automate the manufacturing process.
While it’s not high tech, the ancient art relies on basic physics to move an object from one place to another; it’s inexpensive and doesn’t use electricity or power. Instead, gravity is the key to improving efficiency.
Employees are asked to perform simple tasks such as attaching magnets to a board. They’re timed repeating the task – first with the parts far away and then with the parts closer. Utilizing systems of Karakuri and swinging the parts as close to the work station as possible makes the process more efficient, ergonomically less stressful and faster – cutting the time by half. These devices are made in-house and are low-cost solutions that are easy to maintain or improve when needed.
This training helps the employees learn to work faster and create less strain on their bodies because they are twisting and turning less to reach for parts.
This part of the facility is where workers learn the ancient art of Karakuri.Petrina Gentile/The Globe and Mail
Seal training
In the paint and sealer training station, Karakuri is implemented with jigs used to raise a Lexus door up and down so workers can apply the sealer around the door with ease and comfort. It requires no lifting of heavier components like doors, so it’s less strenuous on the worker because there’s no twisting, kneeling down or moving heavy parts around.
Repeating this process, which is the same as they will use on the shop floor, improves worker confidence and accuracy before moving out of the training facility. This new process has been so successful at improving efficiencies, it’s now being implemented at all Lexus paint training stations globally.
Instead of a worker moving around to apply the sealer, the door moves to reduce strain and improve efficiency.Petrina Gentile/The Globe and Mail
Working alongside robots
In the internal logistics systems (ILS) lab, workers test automation and automated guided vehicles (AGV). In 2014, the plant had about 15 AGVs that travelled along magnetic strips from point A to point B, but if something got in its way, it would stop and remain there until the object moved.
Nowadays, the technology has advanced significantly. There are more than 600 AGVs on the factory floor and employees train in this area to learn how to work alongside the robots. These automated NX and RX AGVs in the training facility have no magnetic tape and are programmed to move around in a specific area. And if something is blocking them, they can change paths on their own and go around the object.
This helps reduce congestion and manage traffic between pedestrians, vehicles and fork lifts. Maps also show how everything is moving together to provide workers with the visibility to see what’s going on around them.
TMMC has about 600 automated guided vehicles (AGV), such as this one for a Lexus RX.Petrina Gentile/The Globe and Mail