Toyota Motors, Pakistan

The Toyota Indus Motor company, located in Pakistan, is the only manufacturing site in the world where both Toyota and Daihatsu brands are manufactured under the same roof. Along with state-of-the-art production technology, the facility has also implemented the world renowned Toyota Production System, that eliminates waste or ‘muda’ to enhance efficiency and productivity. 

To create the body of the car, a spot-welding process is deployed. This requires high levels of current repetitively for several milliseconds during the operating cycle. The welders also operate in an asymmetrical manner across phases. All this leads to highly fluctuating reactive power and an unbalanced load current, causing large and uneven drops in transformer voltages. Additionally, the facility at times faces intermittent supply and frequent power outages. During such instances, the Toyota Motors facility is supported by standby power from 1500 rpm diesel generators.

After a detailed study of the various electrical parameters, Hitachi Energy’s stepless reactive power compensator, PQC-STATCON, was proposed as a solution. This led to an increase of the power factor of the network from 0.85 to 0.95, thus enhancing power quality at the facility.  Toyota Motors have seen other notable benefits by installing Hitachi Energy’s PQC-STATCON. They now operate only one 2250 kVA generator in the event of utility outages, leading to cost and environmental benefits. Resultant savings are up to US$300 per hour. There are also considerable improvements in welding quality owing to reduced voltage drops during power outage.