Automotive Design and Production

OCT 2013

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With all due respect, the frst generation Toyota Tundra (2000-2006) was not a "full-size pickup" in the context of what pickup people consider to be "full-size pickups." Sure, it was dimensionally larger than the T-100 pickup that preceded it, but when you have the largest in the lineup, the Double Cab, with an overall length of 230.1 in., that may be sizable but that size isn't full. So when the second-generation Tundra was launched as a MY 2007 vehicle, Toyota proudly noted that the "Allnew, second-generation 2007 Tundra full-size pickup truck is larger in every dimension than the model it replaces." "third-generation" vehicle, arguably it is really the second full-size. Consider: the overall length of the regular cab 2014 Tundra is 228.9 in., a mere 1.2 in. less than the frst-gen Double. What's more—and it is considerably more—the overall length of the '14 Double Cab and CrewMax is 247.8 in., or a delta of 17.7 in. Big matters in full-size trucks. That said, if the '14 is taken to be gen three for Toyota, then third time is a charm. Asia as a yeti. So to create a product for a market, to come up with a solution to a problem, being there is essential. The design frm IDEO (ideo.com) deploys a process called "design thinking." IDEO president Tim Brown defnes it thusly: "Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success." And for a very good reason. There are generally fve steps to design thinking: empathize, defne, ideate, prototype, test. It's like this: the U.S. market is the market for full-size pickups. You're as likely to see a full-size on the streets of Europe or And while there is the word "design" in the name, it doesn't necessarily have to be performed just by designers That one is the real full-size truck. And the point of this is that while the brand new Tundra is called the t Mike Sweers, chief engineer of the 2014 Toyota Tundra, not only engineers trucks, but drives one on the farm he owns in Michigan. p Note how the name of the truck is stamped into the tailgate. Further note that there is no giant Toyota logo on that tailgate. When asked why, chief engineer Mike Sweers answers that that sort of thing doesn't necessarily ft well with truck owners. And while it might seem as though the stamped name is simply a simple thing to do, a team of designers from Calty in California, engineers from the Toyota Technical Center in Michigan, and manufacturing personnel from the plant in Texas determined that in cases where competitors were taking the stamped approach, the results tended to have wrinkles or other imperfections that they found unacceptable. So they went at trying to fgure out how to stamp the name into the sheet metal, which lead them to reduce the radii on the edges of the letters. 49

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