Prospecton, Durban - The new range of 500 Wide Cab trucks has gone into production at the Toyota plant in Prospecton, and the first trucks off the line are already on their way to dealerships countrywide.
In the first full model change in 14 years, the Hino 500 range is being expanded from five models to 12, after an investment investment of more than R20-million by Hino SA and several significant changes to the assembly process.
Most of these are aimed at improving productivity and quality, while reducing the physical load on team members.
The plant now employs 10 more people, for a total of 113 and has a production capacity of 5000 trucks a year on a single shift.
At the traditional line-off ceremony for the first production unit, Hino managing officer for production Masamichi Mizukoshi said he was highly impressed with the plant in Prospecton, and challenged the team members to make it the highest quality Hino plant outside Japan.