Friday, 24 May 2013

Toyota

                                   Toyota



                                           Toyota Motor Corporation logo



Native nameトヨタ自動車株式会社
RomanizednameToyota Jidosha KK
Type
Traded asTYO: 7203
LSE: TYT
NYSE: TM
IndustryAutomotive
FoundedAugust 28, 1937
Founder(s)Kiichiro Toyoda
HeadquartersToyota, Aichi, Japan
Area servedWorldwide
Key peopleFujio Cho (Chairman)
Akio Toyoda (President and CEO)
ProductsAutomobiles, commercial vehicles, engines, motorcycles
Production outputIncrease 9,909,440 units (CY 2012)[1]
ServicesBanking, financing, leasing
RevenueIncrease ¥22.064 trillion (FY 2013) [2]
Operating incomeIncrease ¥1.320 trillion (FY 2013) [2]
ProfitIncrease ¥962.1 billion (FY 2013)[2]
Total assetsIncrease ¥35.483 trillion (FY 2013)[2]
Total equityIncrease ¥12.773 trillion (FY 2013)[2]
ParentToyota Group
DivisionsLexus
Scion
Subsidiaries522 (Toyota Group)
WebsiteToyota Global
      
Toyota Motor Corporation  Toyota Jidōsha KK?, IPA: [toꜜjota]) /tɔɪˈoʊtə/, abbreviated TMC, is a Japanese multinationalautomaker headquartered in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. In 2010, Toyota employed 325,905 people worldwide,[3] and was the third-largest automobile manufacturer in 2011 by production behind General Motors and Volkswagen Group.[4] Toyota is the eleventh-largest company in the world by revenue. In July 2012, the company reported it had manufactured its 200-millionth vehicle.[5]
The company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937 as a spinoff from his father's company Toyota Industries to create automobiles. Three years earlier, in 1934, while still a department of Toyota Industries, it created its first product, the Type A engine, and, in 1936, its first passenger car, theToyota AA. Toyota Motor Corporation group companies are Toyota (including the Scion brand), Lexus, Daihatsu, and Hino Motors,[6] along with several "nonautomotive" companies.[7] TMC is part of the Toyota Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the world.

Corporate governance [edit]

Principal headquarters building of Toyota
Another Toyota headquarters building in Toyota City, Japan
Toyota is headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi.[8] The main headquarters of Toyota is located in a three story building in Toyota. As of 2006 the head office has the "Toyopet" Toyota logo and the words "Toyota Motor". The Toyota Technical Center, a 14-story building, and the Honsha plant, Toyota's second plant engaging in mass production and formerly named the Koromo plant, are adjacent to one another in a location near the headquarters. Vinod Jacob from The Hindu described the main headquarters building as "modest".[9] In 2013 company head Akio Toyoda reported that it had difficulties retaining foreign employees at the headquarters due to the lack of amenities in Toyota.[10]
Its Tokyo office is located in Bunkyo, Tokyo. Its Nagoya office is located in Nakamura-ku, Nagoya.[8] In addition to manufacturing automobiles, Toyota provides financial services through its Toyota Financial Services division, and also builds robots.
Akio Toyoda, CEO of Toyota, at the annual results press conference, May 11, 2011
Toyota's global network:
Red - Japan
Green - Official dealership(s) present.
Blue - Localized manufacturing plant(s)
Light Blue - Regional headquarters (HQ)
Dark Blue - Regional headquarters (HQ) and localized manufacturing plants
Typical breakdown of sales by region
President of Toyota Motor Company:
In 1981, Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. announced plans to merge with its sales entity Toyota Motor Sales Co., Ltd. which existed as separate companies since 1950 as a prerequisite for reconstruction in postwar Japan. Shoichiro Toyoda took the helm at Toyota Motor Sales in preparation for the consummation of the merger which would occur in 1982 with Shoichiro succeeding his uncle Eiji as the President of the combined organization, now known as Toyota Motor Corporation.
President of Toyota Motor Corporation:
CEO of Toyota Motor Corporation:
Chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation:
Toyota is publicly traded on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Sapporo exchanges under company code TYO: 7203. In addition, Toyota is foreign-listed on the New York Stock Exchange under NYSE: TM and on the London Stock Exchange under LSE: TYT. Toyota has been publicly traded in Japan since 1949 and internationally since 1999.[11]
As reported on its consolidated financial statements, Toyota has 540 consolidated subsidiaries and 226 affiliates.

Financial results [edit]

In 2011, the Toyota Group (including Daihatsu, Hino and Chinese joint ventures) fell to place three with 8,050,181 units produced globally.[12] According to an unofficial count, based on unit production reported by major automakers, Toyota regained its top rank with 9,909,440 units produced globally in calendar 2012. [13] On May 8, 2013, Toyota announced plans to produce 10.1 million units in fiscal 2013, which, if achieved, would make it the first auto manufacturer to cross the 10 million unit threshold.[14]
On May 8, 2009, Toyota reported a record annual net loss of US$4.2 billion, making it the latest automobile maker to be severely affected by the global financial crisis that started in 2007. Toyota's financial unit had asked for an emergency loan from a state-backed lender on March 16, 2009, with reports putting the figure at more than US$3 billion. It said the international financial situation was squeezing its business, forcing it to ask for an emergency loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. This was the first time the state-backed bank has been asked to lend to a Japanese car manufacturer.[15]
On May 8, 2013, Toyota Motor Corporation announced its financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2013. Net revenues totaled 22.0 trillion yen (US$ 216,7 billion, +18.7%). Operating income was 1.32 trillion yen (US$13 billion, +371%), net income 962.1 billion yen (US$9.47 billion, +339%). [16]

History [edit]

Main article: History of Toyota
Toyota was started in 1933 as a division of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works devoted to the production of automobiles under the direction of the founder's son, Kiichiro Toyoda.[17] Its first vehicles were the A1 passenger car and the G1 in 1935. The Toyota Motor Co. was established as an independent company in 1937. In 2008, Toyota's sales surpassed General Motors, making Toyota number one in the world.[18]
Mass production of Toyoda automated loom, displayed at the Toyota Museum in Nagakute-cho, Aichi-gun, Aichi Pref. Japan
In 1924, Sakichi Toyoda invented the Toyoda Model G Automatic Loom. The principle of Jidoka, which means the machine stops itself when a problem occurs, became later a part of the Toyota Production System. Looms were built on a small production line. In 1929, the patent for the automatic loom was sold to a British company, generating the starting capital for the automobile development.[19]
Toyoda Standard Sedan AA 1936
Vehicles were originally sold under the name "Toyoda" (トヨダ), from the family name of the company's founder, Kiichirō Toyoda. In April 1936, Toyoda's first passenger car, the Model AA, was completed. The sales price was 3,350 yen, 400 yen cheaper than Ford or GM cars.[20]
House of Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda, near Toyota City[21]
In September 1936, the company ran a public competition to design a new logo. Of 27,000 entries, the winning entry was the three Japanese katakanaletters for "Toyoda" in a circle. But Risaburō Toyoda, who had married into the family and was not born with that name, preferred "Toyota" (トヨタ) because it took eight brush strokes (a lucky number) to write in Japanese, was visually simpler (leaving off the diacritic at the end) and with a voiceless consonant instead of a voiced one (voiced consonants are considered to have a "murky" or "muddy" sound compared to voiceless consonants, which are "clear").
Inside the house of Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda, near Toyota City
Since "Toyoda" literally means "fertile rice paddies", changing the name also prevented the company from being associated with old-fashioned farming. The newly formed word was trademarked and the company was registered in August 1937 as the "Toyota Motor Company".[22][23][24]
First-generation Toyopet Crown Model RSD (1955/1 – 1958/10)
Toyota at the Rally Dakar, 1992
From September 1947, Toyota's small-sized vehicles were sold under the name "Toyopet" (トヨペット).[25] The first vehicle sold under this name was theToyopet SA,[26] but it also included vehicles such as the Toyopet SB light truck, Toyopet Stout light truck,[27] Toyopet Crown, Toyopet Master, and theToyopet Corona. The word "Toyopet (Japanese article)" was a nickname given to the Toyota SA due to its small size, as the result of a naming contest the Toyota Company organized in 1947. However, when Toyota eventually entered the American market in 1957 with the Crown, the name was not well received due to connotations of toys and pets.[28] The name was soon dropped for the American market, but continued in other markets until the mid-1960s.
By the early 1960s, the US had begun placing stiff import tariffs on certain vehicles. The chicken tax of 1964 placed a 25% tax on imported light trucks.[29] In response to the tariff, Toyota, Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. began building plants in the US by the early 1980s.[29]
With over 30 million sold, the Corolla is one of the most popular and best selling cars in the world.
Toyota received its first Japanese Quality Control Award at the start of the 1980s and began participating in a wide variety of motorsports. Due to the1973 oil crisis, consumers in the lucrative US market began turning to small cars with better fuel economy. American car manufacturers had considered small economy cars to be an "entry level" product, and their small vehicles employed a low level of quality to keep the price low.
In 1982, the Toyota Motor Company and Toyota Motor Sales merged into one company, the Toyota Motor Corporation. Two years later, Toyota entered into a joint venture with General Motors called the New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc, NUMMI, operating an automobile-manufacturing plant in Fremont, California. The factory was an old General Motors plant that had been closed for two years. Toyota then started to establish new brands at the end of the 1980s, with the launch of their luxury division Lexus in 1989.
In the 1990s, Toyota began to branch out from producing mostly compact cars by adding many larger and more luxurious vehicles to its lineup, including a full-sized pickup, the T100 (and later the Tundra); several lines of SUVs; a sport version of the Camry, known as the Camry Solara; and theScion brand, a group of several affordable, yet sporty, automobiles targeted specifically to young adults. Toyota also began production of the world's best-selling hybrid car, the Prius, in 1997.
With a major presence in Europe, due to the success of Toyota Team Europe, the corporation decided to set up Toyota Motor Europe Marketing and Engineering, TMME, to help market vehicles in the continent. Two years later, Toyota set up a base in the United Kingdom, TMUK, as the company's cars had become very popular among British drivers. Bases in Indiana, Virginia, and Tianjin were also set up. In 1999, the company decided to list itself on the New York and London Stock Exchanges.
In 2001, Toyota's Toyo Trust and Banking merged with two other banks to form UFJ Bank, which was accused of corruption by Japan's government for making bad loans to alleged Yakuza crime syndicates with executives accused of blocking Financial Service Agency inspections.[30] The UFJ was listed among Fortune Magazine's largest money-losing corporations in the world, with Toyota's chairman serving as a director.[31] At the time, the UFJ was one of the largest shareholders of Toyota. As a result of Japan's banking crisis, UFJ merged with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi to become theMitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
In 2002, Toyota managed to enter a Formula One works team and establish joint ventures with French motoring companies Citroën and Peugeot a year after Toyota started producing cars in France.
Toyota ranked eighth on Forbes 2000 list of the world's leading companies for the year 2005[32] but slid to 55 for 2011.[33] The company was number one in global automobile sales for the first quarter of 2008.[34]
In 2007, Toyota released an update of its full-size truck, the Tundra, produced in two American factories, one in Texas and one in Indiana. "Motor Trend" named the Tundra "Truck of the Year," and the 2007 Toyota Camry "Car of the Year" for 2007. It also began the construction of two new factories, one to build the RAV4 in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, and the other to build the Toyota Prius in Blue Springs, Mississippi, USA. This plant was originally intended to build the Toyota Highlander, but Toyota decided to use the plant in Princeton, Indiana, USA, instead. The company has also found recent success with its smaller models—the Corolla and Yaris—as gasoline prices have risen rapidly in the last few years.
From November 2009 through 2010, Toyota recalled more than 9 million cars and trucks worldwide in several recall campaigns, and briefly halted production and sales.[35]. Toyota initiated the recalls, the first two with the assistance of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA), after reports that several vehicles experienced unintended acceleration.
Main article: 2009–2010 Toyota vehicle recalls
In 2011, Toyota, along with large parts of the Japanese automotive industry, suffered from a series of natural disasters. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami led to a severe disruption of the supplier base and a drop in production and exports. [36] [37] Severe flooding during the 2011 monsoonseason in Thailand affected Japanese automakers that had chosen Thailand as a production base. Toyota estimated to have lost production of 150,000 units to the tsunami and production of 240,000 units to the floods.
In October 2012, Toyota announced a recall of 7.43 million vehicles worldwide to fix malfunctioning power window switches, the largest recall since that of Ford Motor Company in 1996. The move came after a series of recalls between 2009 and 2011 in which it pulled back around 10 million recalls amidst claims of faulty mechanics.[38]



Company strategy [edit]

Main article: The Toyota Way
Toyota's management philosophy has evolved from the company's origins and has been reflected in the terms "Lean Manufacturing" and Just In Time Production, which it was instrumental in developing.[48] Toyota's managerial values and business methods are known collectively as the Toyota Way.
In April 2001, Toyota adopted the "Toyota Way 2001", an expression of values and conduct guidelines that all Toyota employees should embrace. Under the two headings of Respect for Peopleand Continuous Improvement, Toyota summarizes its values and conduct guidelines with the following five principles:[49]
  • Challenge
  • Kaizen (improvement)
  • Genchi genbutsu (go and see)
  • Respect
  • Teamwork
According to external observers, the Toyota Way has four components:[50]
  1. Long-term thinking as a basis for management decisions
  2. A process for problem-solving
  3. Adding value to the organization by developing its people
  4. Recognizing that continuously solving root problems drives organizational learning
The Toyota Way incorporates the Toyota Production System.

Operations [edit]

Main article: Toyota Production System
New Toyota factory in Ohira, near Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan: A month after this picture was taken, the region was devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The plant was only lightly damaged, but remained closed for more than a month, mainly due to lack of supplies and energy, in addition to a badly damaged Sendai port.
Toyota has long been recognized as an industry leader in manufacturing and production. Three stories of its origin have been found, one that they studied Piggly-Wiggly's just-in-time distribution system,[51] one that they followed the writings of W. Edwards Deming,[52] and one that they were given the principles from a WWII US government training program (Training Within Industry).[53] Regardless of the origin, the principles described by Toyota in its management philosophy, The Toyota Way, are: Challenge, Kaizen (improvement), Genchi Genbutsu (go and see), Respect, and Teamwork.[49]
As described by external observers of Toyota, the principles of the Toyota Way are:[50]
  1. Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term goals
  2. Create continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface
  3. Use "pull" systems to avoid overproduction
  4. Level out the workload
  5. Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time
  6. Standardized tasks are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment
  7. Use visual control so no problems are hidden
  8. Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes
  9. Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others
  10. Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company’s philosophy
  11. Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve
  12. Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation (genchi genbutsu)
  13. Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options; implement decisions rapidly
  14. Become a learning organization through relentless reflection and continuous improvement


Environmental record [edit]

Toyota has been a leader in environmentally friendly vehicle technologies, most notably the RAV4 EV (produced from 1997 to 2003) and the Toyota Prius (1997 to present). Toyota is now working on their next generation Prius and second generation RAV4 EV both due out in 2012.
Toyota implemented its Fourth Environmental Action Plan in 2005. The plan contains four major themes involving the environment and the corporation's development, design, production, and sales. The five-year plan is directed at the, "arrival of a revitalized recycling-based society."[133] Toyota had previously released its Eco-Vehicle Assessment System (Eco-VAS) which is a systematic life cycle assessment of the effect a vehicle will have on the environment including production, usage, and disposal. The assessment includes, "... fuel efficiency, emissions and noise during vehicle use, the disposal recovery rate, the reduction of substances of environmental concern, and CO2 emissions throughout the life cycle of the vehicle from production to disposal."[134] 2008 marks the ninth year for Toyota's Environmental Activities Grant Program which has been implemented every year since 2000. Themes of the 2008 program consist of "Global Warming Countermeasures" and "Biodiversity Conservation."[135]
Since October 2006, Toyota's new Japanese-market vehicle models with automatic transmissions are equipped with an Eco Drive Indicator. The system takes into consideration rate of acceleration, engine and transmission efficiency, and speed. When the vehicle is operated in a fuel-efficient manner, the Eco Drive Indicator on the instrument panel, lights up. Individual results vary depending on traffic issues, starting and stopping the vehicle, and total distance traveled, but the Eco Drive Indicator may improve fuel efficiency by as much as 4%.[136] Along with Toyota's eco-friendly objectives on production and use, the company plans to donate US$1 million and five vehicles to the Everglades National Park. The money will be used to fund environmental programs at the park. This donation is part of a program which provides US$5 million and 23 vehicles for five national parks and the National Parks Foundation.[137] However new figures from the United States National Research Council show that the continuing hidden health costs of the auto industry to the US economy in 2005 amounted to US$56 million.[138]
The United States EPA has awarded Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc (TEMA) with an ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award in 2007, 2008 and 2009[139][140][141]
In 2007, Toyota's Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) fleet average of 26.69 mpg-US (8.813 L/100 km; 32.05 mpg-imp) exceeded all other major manufactures selling cars within the United States. Only Lotus Cars, which sold the Elise and Exige (powered by Toyota's 2ZZ-GE engine), did better with an average of 30.2 mpg-US (7.79 L/100 km; 36.3 mpg-imp).[142]


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