Eiji Toyoda

Template:Nihongo<ref name="Bloomberg">Template:Cite news</ref> was a Japanese industrialist. He was largely responsible for bringing Toyota Motor Corporation to profitability and worldwide prominence during his tenure as president and later, as chairman.<ref name=chunichi>Template:Cite web</ref> He was succeeded as the president of Toyota by Shoichiro Toyoda.

Career

Toyoda studied mechanical engineering at Tokyo Imperial University from 1933 to 1936.<ref name="Kodansha">Template:Cite book</ref> During this time his cousin Kiichiro established an automobile plant at the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works in the city of Nagoya in central Japan.<ref name=Kodansha/> Toyoda joined his cousin in the plant at the conclusion of his degree and throughout their lives they shared a deep friendship. In 1938, Kiichiro asked Eiji to oversee construction of a newer factory about 32 km east of Nagoya on the site of a red pine forest in the town of Koromo, later renamed Toyota City.<ref name="Lexus">Template:Cite book</ref> Known as the Honsha ("headquarters") plant, to this day it is considered the "mother factory" for Toyota Motor production facilities worldwide.<ref name=Lexus/>

Toyoda visited Ford River Rouge Complex at Dearborn, Michigan, during the early 1950s. He was awed by the scale of the facility but dismissive of what he saw as its inefficiencies.<ref name="Businessweek-2004-05-24">Template:Cite web</ref> Toyota Motor had been in the business of manufacturing cars for 13 years at this stage, and had produced just over 2,500 automobiles. The Ford plant in contrast manufactured 8,000 vehicles a day.<ref name=Kodansha/> Due to this experience, Toyoda decided to adopt American automobile mass production methods but with a qualitative twist.Template:Cn

Toyoda collaborated with Taiichi Ohno, a veteran loom machinist, to develop core concepts of what later became known as the 'Toyota Production System', such as the Kanban system of labeling parts used on assembly lines, which was an early precursor to bar codes.<ref name=Businessweek-2004-05-24/> They also fine-tuned the concept of Kaizen, a process of incremental but constant improvements designed to cut production and labor costs while boosting overall quality.<ref name=Businessweek-2004-05-24/>

As a managing director of Toyota Motor, Toyoda failed in his first attempt to crack the U.S. market with the underpowered Toyota Crown sedan in the 1950s, but he succeeded with the Toyota Corolla compact in 1968, a year after taking over as president of the company.<ref name=Businessweek-2004-05-24/> During the car's development phase, Toyoda, as executive vice-president, had to overcome the objections of then-president Fukio Nakagawa to install a newly developed 1.0-liter engine, air conditioning and automatic transmissions in the Corolla.<ref name=Lexus/>

Appointed the fifth president of Toyota Motor, Toyoda went on to become the company's longest serving chief executive thus far.<ref name=Lexus/> In 1981, he stepped down as president and assumed the title of chairman. He was succeeded as president by Shoichiro Toyoda.<ref name=Lexus/> In 1983, as chairman, Eiji decided to compete in the luxury car market, which culminated in the 1989 introduction of Lexus.<ref name=Lexus/> Toyoda stepped down as chairman of Toyota in 1994 at the age of 81.<ref name=Businessweek-2004-05-24/>

Later years and death

In his later years, Toyoda was hospitalised for hip problems, and needed to use a wheelchair for a time, yet remained affable and enjoyed tackling sudoku puzzles. He spent most of his last years undergoing treatment at the Toyota Memorial Hospital in Toyota City, Japan, close to company headquarters.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Kubota">Template:Cite news</ref>

Five days after his 100th birthday, Toyoda died of heart failure in the Toyota Memorial Hospital on 17 September 2013.<ref name="Kubota"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Paying tribute to Toyoda, David Cole, former chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, said "He was a real visionary and inspirational leader who understood what it would take to make Toyota a successful company."<ref name=LAtimes_obit>Template:Cite news</ref> Leslie Kendall, curator of the Petersen Automotive Museum, described Toyoda as the Japanese equivalent of Henry Ford.<ref name=LAtimes_obit/>

Honours

Japanese

• April 1971 – Medal of Honor with Blue Ribbon<ref name="toyota-global.com">Template:Cite press release</ref>
• November 1983 – Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure<ref name="toyota-global.com"/>
• November 1990 – Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun<ref name="toyota-global.com"/>

Non-Japanese

• March 1985 – Commander of the Order of Prince Henry of Portugal (ComIH)<ref name="toyota-global.com"/>
• December 1990 – Knight Commander of the Order of the White Elephant of Thailand<ref name="toyota-global.com"/>
• April 1991 – Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown of Belgium<ref name="toyota-global.com"/>
• April 1992 – Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Thailand<ref name="toyota-global.com"/>
• September 1993 – Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)<ref name="toyota-global.com"/>
• 1994 – Automotive Hall of Fame, USA<ref name="toyota-global.com"/>
• May 2001 – Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Direkgunabhorn of Thailand<ref name="toyota-global.com"/>

Family tree

Born into a family of textile manufacturers, Eiji Toyoda is the son of Heikichi Toyoda, the brother of Toyoda Loom Works founder Sakichi Toyoda.<ref name=Kodansha/> The descendants of Sakichi Toyoda have long dominated the upper management of Toyota Motors, which was incorporated in 1937. Eiji Toyoda died in September 2013. With his wife, Kazuko Toyoda (died 2002), he had three sons (Kanshiro, Tetsuro and Shuhei) and many grandchildren.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

External links

• Template:Cite web