TOYOTA HISTORY

TOYOTA HISTORY

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION is a Japan-based company mainly engaged in

the automobile business and fnancial business.

The founder was Sakichi Toyoda. He invented numerous weaving devices, but his most famous

invention was the automatic power loom.

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.

The division produced its frst engine in 1934 (which was used in the frst Model A1) and the G1

truck was announced in August 1935. The AA model production began in 1936.

Kiichiro used the spirit of invention and the business base inherited from his father to expand

into the automotive business and build the foundation of today's Toyota Group, wich was

established as an independent company in 1937.

Although the founding family name is Toyoda, the company name was changed to Toyota to

simplify the pronunciation, and to give to the company a happy beginning. Toyota (トヨタ) is

considered luckier than Toyoda (豊 田), because you need eight strokes to write it and the

number eight means lucky in the japanese culture.

During the frst seven years of operations, Toyota sold just 1,500 cars. But he had more success

with the sale of trucks. The operations grew when the government said that all auto

manufacturers should be mostly Japanese. This ended U.S. vehicle imports.

In the Second World War the company was dedicated to truck production for the Imperial

Japanese Army. Because of the poverty in this country, military trucks were made as simple as

possible. For example, the trucks had only one headlight on the center of the hood.

In 1950, Toyota had to deal with the terrible japanese recession. So the company was forced to

do a layoff of employees and support large losses. That was the only year that the company, until

now, has had losses.

The Toyota Crown became the frst Japanese car exports to the United States in 1957, and the

U.S. divisions Toyota and Brazilian were established. Since that moment the company has a

philosophy to make production and design of its products in the same location.

In the 1980s, when the corporation seriously thought in build luxury cars, Lincoln and Cadillac

were very successful

The frst Lexus, fnally appeared in 1989. It was an immediate hit thanks to its high levels of

quality and reliability, and a lower cost than the competitors.

Scion and Daihatsu are another brands of Toyota

Upon entering the 21st century, demand in Japan for new cars started to fall. In contrast,

demand in the U.S. market remained at historically high levels, and China and India demand

was growing. It was the time to start operations at overseas production sites

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 they started producing cars in

France.

It became in 2007 the frst global automotive manufacturer overtaking General Motors. The next

year they have a production and sales of approximately 9.8 million vehicles, although the number

of reviews enforced and quality problems have hurt his image. This leadership lasted until 2011,

when there was a strong industrial recession in Japan because of the earthquake happened on

March 11of that year. Toyota fell to third place, giving the lead to General Motors and

Volkswagen came second.

The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an integrated socio-technical system, developed by

Sakichi Toyoda, his son Kiichiro and the engineer Taiichi Ohno, It comprises its management

philosophy and practices.

The main objective of the TPS is to eliminate waste (muda).

Its values and conduct guidelines are in this fve principles:

1.Challenge(We form a long-term vision, meeting challenges with courage and creativity to

realize our dreams)

2.Kaizen (We improve our business operations continuously, always driving for innovation and

evolution.)

3.Genchi genbutsu (Go to

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