Toyota Prospecton Plant back in gear after flood damage

Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) earlier today (16 August) celebrated the reopening of its Prospecton Plant in Durban after devastating flood damage forced most if its production to be shut down for over three months.

The damage suffered by the plant, described as the worst ever to one of Toyota’s global production facilities caused by a natural disaster, will cost the Japanese carmaker a price of a few dozen billion rand.

The plant was brought to a grinding halt on 12 April, after muddy water flooded most of the 87-hectare facility. This was a result of the water being automatically released through the Shongweni Dam’s floodgates breaching the Mlazi River banks on which the plant is situated.

An earlier downpour saw some areas in KwaZulu-Natal experience over 300 mm of rain in just 24 hours to wreak havoc across large parts of the province.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Toyota SA halts operations after devastating KwaZulu-Natal floods

The water – or mudslide in some places – that entered the plant, rose to a level of around 600 mm, flooding manufacturing equipment, parts and partially assembled cars inside the facility and thousands of finished cars outside.

Some 4 000 cars had to be written off as an end result, with the plant requiring extensive clean-up, restoration and repair. Just in the press plant alone, an estimated five million litres of water had to be drained from the basement.

With extensive support from Toyota Motors Corporation in Japan, a massive restoration and rebuilding process enabled TSAM to resume production on most of its assembly lines in just three months after the shutdown.

All production lines will be active again once the Corolla Quest goes back into production this coming Wednesday, albeit not at full capacity yet. Of the total quantity of 75 788 parts that were needed to restore the plant, 28 344 are still outstanding.

“Not once did Japan ask ‘how did this happen?’ It was just a case of ‘how can we help?’ from day one,” said Andrew Kirby, TSAM’s President and CEO.

“We still need to finalise the end results before we can give you and exact figure of what the cost is as not all insurance claims have been finalised. Are manufacturing equipment is covered against damaged and so were the cars we had to be scrapped.

“The real cost is the estimated 70 000 cars we were not able to produce during the shutdown. If you work on an average of around R400 000 a car, it’s no small amount once you start doing the maths.”

Kirby added that while some members of the 7 500-strong work force lost up to 30% income during a three-month period during the shutdown, the disaster did not result in a single job loss.

The Prospecton assembly plant produces the Hilux, Fortuner, HiAce, Corolla Cross and Quest and also some models under Toyota’s truck division, Hino. Around half of the total of cars built are exported.

Even with the plant shutdown, Toyota quite remarkably managed to hold onto its position as South Africa’s top selling car manufacturer during the months not a single car was built in Prospecton.