BookTitleToyota Tsusho 70-Year History

Summary

Toyota Tsusho 70-Year History

Ltd. (TMUK).Eel-cutting machineNonautomotive-Sector DevelopmentTo expand its business, Toyota Tsusho worked on the development ofnonautomotive businesses. New products included rapid prototyping (highspeedmodeling) machines; Rapid Surf (automatic surface-laying) software;three-dimensional (3-D) systems, such as CAM; and eel-cutting machines. Inaddition, the company developed a modeling machine for plain paper using acopier in collaboration with Kira Corp. Toyota Tsusho’s Machine Planning andDevelopment Section was also instrumental in the joint development of a highspeedABS cutting modeling machine and sales of a CAM system and high-speed3D modeling machine (Z402).Aiming to increase nonautomotive-sector earnings to 30%, Toyota TsushostrengthenedITengineeringandenvironment-relatedequipment.3 Business Development of the Information & Electronics DivisionUnification in the Information and Electronics DivisionToyota Tsusho has been in the information and communications businesssince the late 1980s. It established the New Media Section in 1986, acquiredqualifications as a Type 2 telecommunications operator in 1987, and establishedthe Information and Communications Department in 1988.Until the mid-1990s, information- and communications-related businesswas handled by the Information and Communications Department, and otherelectronic fields were handled by the Nonferrous Metals Department, theMachinery Department and the Electronic Device Department. In March1994, the information and electronics related businesses of the NonferrousMetal Department and the Machinery Department were merged to form theElectronics Department (changed to the Information & Electronics Departmentin 1998). At this point there were three departments handling information-and communications-related business?the Information and CommunicationsDepartment, the Electronics Department, and the Electronic Device Department?but after the formulation of the three-year plan in 1997, it was decided that thesedepartments would be integrated as the Information & Electronics Division.Exhibit featuring e-Parcel at Internet World 99 (September 1998)98