Lista mobile workbenches put tools and equipment where Toyota Racing Development's engine-assembly technicians need them.
Toyota Racing Development customizes the drawers of its Lista workbenches so workers retrieve items as quickly as possible.
The Toyota Racing Development (TRD) facility in Costa Mesa, Calif., houses Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc.'s Indy Racing League and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series engine-building operations and has grown from 50 to over 250 employees. Unfortunately, this growth has eaten up a lot of room at the facility and caused disorganized-storage problems.
According to David Pyle, senior manager at TRD, each guy had his own toolbox from home, so there was no uniformity because sizes varied from small desktop boxes to those as large as small trucks. In addition, the shop used small boltedtogether workbenches that were weak and unsafe. To clean up its act, TRD outfitted the facility with stationary and mobilestorage systems from Lista International Inc. (www.lista.com). Some operate as storage, some as permanent workstations and others as tool-transport carts for holding a range of engine parts, tools and equipment.
Custom Lista cabinet drawers make for fast item retrieval at TRD. They feature 400-pound load capacities and come in seven different sidewall heights for full cubic storage capacity. Also, TRD can subdivide each drawer with a variety of accessories that create organized and custom compartments.
TRD's electronics department uses five double-sided workstations with a workspace for a technician on either side and boards for hanging drawings in the middle. The department customizes the cabinets below the worksurfaces with appropriately sized Lista drawers that have custom compartments. This setup provides storage for the department's small parts and hand tools, and organizes them in logical, time-saving ways.
For TRD's dynamometer-test cells, Lista mobile-transport carts work much like crash carts in a hospital. If there's an engine failure, tools are readily available, and the carts move out of the way in the event of oil spills.
The carts are 8-ft long with stainless steel tops, and have Lista cabinets mounted on each side. There also are separate mobile cabinets underneath central butcherblock worksurfaces.
