Toyota 2007 Annual Report Download - page 23

ANNUAL REPORT 2007 21
Part I:Production Overview
Continuing Rapid Expansion of
Vehicle Production Worldwide
In the past several years, consolidated
vehicle production has grown at a sharp
pace, increasing by between 500,000
and 600,000 vehicles each year. In the
last five years, Toyota met rapidly grow-
ing demand by ramping up production
in regions across the world and build-
ing new plants—increasing production
capacity by 2.87 million vehicles. As a
result, we manufactured vehicles or
components at 52 companies in 26
countries and regions as of June 30,
2007. We will continue the crucial task
of expanding our production capacity
to improve our ability to supply prod-
ucts because increasing demand will
likely persist worldwide.
In 2006, Toyota started up plants
with a combined production capacity
of 400,000 vehicles in Texas, the
United States, and in Guangzhou,
China. In addition, we raised the pro-
duction capacities of our plants in
France and Thailand. In 2007, our third
plant in Thailand and our third plant in
Tianjin, China, started operations.
Also, Camry production began at the
North American plant of Fuji Heavy
Industries Ltd. Other facilities slated to
come on line include a plant in Russia
at the end of 2007, a second plant in
Canada in 2008, and another plant in
the United States, in Mississippi,
around 2010.
Innovating to Further Cultivate
Global Operations: The Role
of Production
Automotive markets worldwide have
grown continuously and are expected to
continue to grow, especially in emerging
markets and North America. Toyota
has catered to global demand by local-
izing production. To advance localiza-
tion, we have overcome a range of
challenges, such as improving capital
investment efficiency, maintaining
uniform quality worldwide, and accel-
erating human resources development.
However, among auto manufacturers
competition for survival in global mar-
kets will likely get stronger. We have
entered an age in which only the truly
competitive will prevail.
As an automaker, manufacturing lies
at the core of our competitiveness.
By continuing to innovate production
engineering technologies, which under-
pin manufacturing, and strengthening
international competitiveness, Toyota
will sustain dynamic growth. At the
same time, we will build cars that satisfy
customers around the world.
In the following section, Takeshi
Uchiyamada, Executive Vice President
responsible for production, explains
Toyota’s basic approach to manufac-
turing and the challenges that our pro-
duction-related divisions face. In the
third section, we report on specific
steps we are taking to innovate auto-
motive production.
Toyota’s vehicle sales worldwide have increased steadily in recent years. To keep pace, Toyota’s
vehicle production, particularly overseas, has grown significantly each year. We are further increas-
ing production capacity and innovating production engineering technologies to deliver Toyota vehicles
to more customers around the world.
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
Consolidated Vehicle Production
(Thousands of units)
FY ’04’03’98 ’99 ’00 ’01 ’02 ’05 ’06 ’07
Note: Fiscal years ended March 31
Expansion of Overseas Production Capacity: Results and Plans
2006 2007 2008 Around 2010
North
America
Europe
China
Asia and
Other Regions
Note: Production capacity is as of June 2007.
*SIA: Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc., the North American plant of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.
Expansion of Overseas Production Capacity: Results and Plans
Texas
200,000 vehicles
SIA*
100,000
vehicles
Mexico
+20,000
vehicles
Canada second
plant
150,000 vehicles
Mississippi
150,000 vehicles
France
+30,000 vehicles
Russia
20,000 vehicles
Guangzhou
200,000 vehicles
Tianjin third plant
200,000 vehicles
Thailand
+90,000 vehicles
Thailand
third plant
100,000
vehicles
South Africa
+90,000
vehicles