In among the robots, veteran Toyota staffer says manual labor is key to success

In a corner of Toyota's oldest factory, the Japanese carmaker's longest-serving employee preaches the benefits of craftsmanship, saying manual labor is the key to success in a highly automated automotive industry. Mitsuru Kawai, 67, joined Toyota's technical academy from junior high school more than half a century ago, and believes that even in today's sleek, streamlined, robot-filled factories there's a place for manual skills to be learned, honed and encouraged. The world's biggest automaker will this year launch its first car as part of its Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA) initiative - where common platforms and powertrains will be used across many models, cutting production costs by as much as a fifth.

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