Subaru
Nothing
was more amazing than our visit to the Subaru factory where we saw Subaru
Legacies, Foresters, and Impresas being assembled. We saw sheet metal at
one end and cars being test driven at the other. Work in car factories is
probably the hardest of all the jobs performed by Nikkei-Brazilians,
and many complain of weight loss and aching joints. It is a job where a
person's attention is required at all times, for as the cars move down the
lines the workers have limited time to assemble the parts that they are
responsible for. A few minutes after we entered the work area, a bell sounded
followed by the "London bridge is falling down" tune, which played
continuously for five minutes while the workers took their break. During
this time the workers munched on snacks at a nearby table or on the floor
and drank drinks that probably came from the vending machines that lined
the wall at one corner of the factory. At the center of the factory the
workers had collaborated to build a beautiful rest area, everything made
of wood to counterbalance the mechanized and artificial nature of the factory.
Robots performed the technical parts of the job, but the final product required
the skills of human beings. This Subaru plant produces about 1000 cars a
day and Brazilians are a vital part of this successful endeavor. 
Personal account of a factory worker