BookTitleToyota Tsusho 70-Year History

Summary

Toyota Tsusho 70-Year History

which are joint ventures supplying automobile parts toautomakers such as AvtoVAZ. In December 2012, ToyotaTsusho joined forces with Honda-affiliated shift leverparts manufacturer Atsumitec Co., Ltd., to establishAtsumitec Toyota Tsusho Rus LLC (ATTR). Thiscollaboration between the Toyota and Honda Groupsmanufactured parts that were delivered to Renault-Nissanaffiliate AvtoVAZ.6 Business Development in KazakhstanEntering the Agricultural BusinessIn July 2014, Toyota Tsusho concluded an agreementto take over the third-party allocation of shares andassume a 20% stake in agriculture holding companyKoktem EA.Kazakhstan is a fertile farm belt known for chernozem(high-yield black soil) and has farmland equivalentto about five times the area of arable land in Japan.Agricultural production concentrated on wheat, but yieldstended to be unstable due to the use of extensive farmingmethods that relied on rainfall. By acquiring a stake inKoktem and entering the agricultural business, ToyotaTsusho believed that it would be able to implementToyota-style kaizen (continuous improvements) toimprove all the processes from cultivation and productionmanagement to harvest storage and sales, thereby raisingproduction efficiency and stabilizing yields.in Kazakhstan. It was a project that had its roots inthe visit in 2008 of Kazakhstan’s president NursultanNazarbayev to Japan. During the visit, PresidentNazarbayev had discussions with Toyota Tsusho topmanagement about CKD production. With this project,since the supply bases were concentrated in Asia, ToyotaTsusho proposed using sea-land intermodal transport toship parts to the Russian Far East and then transport themto the factory in Kazakhstan via the Siberian Railwayrather than using the usual method of sea transport viaEurope. This led to a considerable reduction in lead time.Start of CKD Production of Fortuner VehiclesIn June 2014, Toyota Tsusho and TMC began CKD(complete knock-down) production of Fortuner vehiclesJV Business Car, the largest Lexus dealer in Europe168