Toyota Industries

History

1920s

The company was founded on 18 November 1926 as Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. by Sakichi Toyoda, the inventor of a series of manual and machine-powered looms. The most significant of these was the 1924 Toyoda Automatic Loom, Type G, a completely automatic high-speed loom featuring the ability to change shuttles without stopping and dozens of other innovations. At the time it was the world's most advanced loom, delivering a clear improvement in quality and a twenty-fold increase in productivity.{{cite web |access-date=7 February 2009 |archive-date=16 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916020639/http://www.jsme.or.jp/kikaiisan/data/no_016.html |url-status=dead In 2007, this machine was registered as item No. 16 in the Mechanical Engineering Heritage of Japan as "a landmark achievement that advanced the global textile industry and laid the foundation for the development of the Toyota Group."

1930s

In 1933, the company established its automobile department, led by Kiichiro Toyoda, the eldest son of Sakichi Toyoda. This department was spun off as Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. in 1937 and is now known as Toyota Motor Corporation. Toyota Industries is one of 13 core companies of the Toyota Group. The company owns 8.48% of Toyota Motor and is the largest shareholder (excluding trust revolving funds). As a countermeasure against hostile merger and acquisition attempts, Toyota Motor currently holds 24.92% of common stock of its origin Toyota Industries.

1940s

In 1940, the steel production department of Toyota Industries was spun off as Toyota Steel Works Ltd. (present Aichi Steel Corporation). In 1944, Toyota Industries's Obu plant, which produces castings, began operations. Five years later, the Toyota Industries stock was listed on the Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya Stock Exchanges.

1950s

In 1952, Toyota Industries began producing press die for automobiles. One year later the Kyowa plant began to assemble automobiles and produce engines. In 1956 Toyota unveiled the Model LA 1-ton lift truck, this was the company's first lift truck model. In 1957, Toyota Industries began producing D-type diesel engines. That same year, it launched the Model LAT .85-ton towing tractor. In the final year of the decade, Toyota Industries began producing the P-type gasoline engine.

1960s

In 1960, the Kyowa plant was modified to only assemble lift trucks. That same year, the company began producing the shovel loader and three cylinder crank shaft type compressor. That same year, Toyota Industries' Development Laboratories and Toyota Central Research were established with funds from ten Toyota group companies. In 1964, Toyota Industries was recognized by Japan's Ministry of International trade and industry as one of the first Japanese companies to export. Toyota Industries also unveiled their new automated continuous spinning system. In 1967, the Toyota Publica entered into production at the company's Nagakusa plant. Toyota Industries had a monthly output of more than 1,000 units.

1970s

In 1971, the company started assembling the Corolla. In 1973, Toyota Industries reached an output of 3,000 units. One year later, in 1974, production began on car air-conditioning compressors.

1980s

In 1980, the company started producing the JA air. By 1984, the engine division of Toyota Industries was separated from the vehicle division. In 1986, Toyota Industries received the Deming Application prize for quality control implementation. In 1988 Toyota Industrial Equipment is created in Indiana, US.

1990s

In 1991, Toyota Industries reached the landmark of 5 million units produced. A year later, it set up an Environmental Committee.

Current business

Toyota Industries is active in five business areas: automotive, materials handling, electronics, logistics, and textile machinery.

Toyota-branded forklifts from Toyota Industries share the same logo as Toyota automobiles from Toyota Motor Corporation and are manufactured at the Toyota Material Handling Inc. (TMH), previously known as Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing (TIEM), facility in Columbus, Indiana, for the US market.

Toyota Material Handling USA (TMHU) was formally a separate company, breaking out dealer and sales divisions of the North American business. Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing (TIEM) was formally focused on engineering, manufacturing and responsible for the daily production of forklifts. In 2018, these two divisions merged, combining the sales and manufacturing business functions into one business entity, now known as Toyota Material Handling Inc. (TMH).

Toyota Industries Corporation is under contract from Toyota Motor Corporation for the production and assembly of the Toyota RAV4 vehicles. The company manufactures automotive engines for use in Toyota-branded automobiles such as Avensis, Corolla, Crown, and Land Cruiser.

In 2000, Toyota Industries acquired the Swedish-based forklift truck corporation BT Industries, alongside BT's subsidiaries The Raymond Corporation and CESAB. Combined with Toyota Industries' materials handling division, this created the largest forklift company in the world, Toyota Material Handling Corporation.

In October 2012, Toyota Industries acquired Cascade Corp., a maker of attachments for forklifts, for a price of $728 million.

In 2017, Toyota Industries acquired Bastian Solutions, a warehouse automation company, and Vanderlande, a manufacturer of automated material handling equipment, mostly for airports.

In 2021, Toyota Industries formed T-Hive as TICO's solution for autonomous vehicle (AV) software solutions. The newly formed group focuses on warehouse, manufacturing, and airport logistics automation through AV's.

In 2022, Toyota Industries acquired viastore, a provider of intralogistics systems, intralogistics software and supporting services.

Looms

In 2024, Toyota Industries was manufacturing two state-of-the-art looms: the JAT910 (air-jet loom) and LWT810 (water-jet loom). Both looms operate without shuttles. The water jet loom throws the weft through the warp threads using water, and thus can only be used with synthetic fibers. The air jet loom uses air to throw the weft, and thus can be used with any fiber.

Stock exchange

The company's shares are traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under symbol 6201.T.

References

References

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11. (2009-11-13). "Kiichiro Toyoda, founder of the Toyota Motor Corporation, dies {{!}} March 27, 1952".
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13. (22 October 2012). "Toyota Industries to buy Cascade for $728 mln". [[Reuters]].
14. (23 March 2017). "Veghels Vanderlande voor ruim miljard overgenomen door Toyota". Brabants Dagblad.
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16. . (19 May 2022). ["Toyota Industries Corporation to acquire viastore"](https://www.mmh.com/article/toyota_industries_corporation_to_acquire_viastore). *[[Modern Materials Handling]]*.