Establishment of
Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. and Construction of the Koromo Plant
Toyoda Automatic Loom Works was licensed under the
Automotive Manufacturing Industries Law in September 1936 and became obligated
to establish automobile mass production systems. The plan for the Koromo Plant,
which called for monthly production of 2,000 units, had to be completed one way
or another, but the construction costs were estimated to be 30 million yen, far
in excess of the fundraising capacity of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, which had
capital of six million yen. Accordingly, the establishment of a new company
with capital of 32 million yen and raising funds from a broader range of
investors was investigated. External circumstances created pressure for the
rapid completion of the Koromo Plant, however, and as a result, a new company
with capital of 12 million yen was established, plant construction rapidly
commenced, and the additional construction costs were borrowed.
In accordance with this plan, Toyoda Automatic Loom Works'
Automotive Department was spun off and Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. was established
as a new company. The new company's inaugural general meeting was held on
August 27, 1937, and registration was completed the following day. The company's
basic information at the time of the establishment was as follows.
Business purposes:
1)Manufacture and sale of automobiles;
2)Iron and steel making and other refining;
3)Manufacture and sale of aircraft, spindle and loom, and
general machinery; and
4)Research and invention concerning the preceding paragraphs
and the use of such invention and research
The business purposes were nearly identical to the content
of the Articles of Incorporation revised at the extraordinary general
shareholders meeting of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works held on January 29, 1934,
with the only differences being "powered transportation machinery"
changed to "automobiles" and "aircraft".1 Including
"invention and research" in the business purposes was carried over
from Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, and the stance concerning the pursuit of
research and creativity was maintained.
Executive Vice
President Kiichiro Toyoda observing the Koromo Plant during construction
Shortly after its establishment, Toyota Motor Co., Ltd.
conducted a ground-breaking ceremony for the Koromo Plant on September 29,
1937. At the time, Japan was under a wartime system, and not only was the price
of steel extremely high, it was difficult to obtain steel for construction. It
is said that Toyoda Automatic Loom Works' Steelmaking Department cooperated
with the construction of the Koromo Plant by manufacturing reinforcement bars
for use in reinforced concrete.2 The plant was constructed under these
difficult circumstances, but the plant was completed through the concerted
efforts of the entire Toyoda Group.
Aerial view of the
Koromo Plant near completion
A portion of the plant construction was completed in April
1938, and the relocation of equipment from Kariya began. Construction of the
entire plant was completed at the end of September that year, and the
relocation of machinery and equipment from the Kariya manufacturing shop and
assembly shop was finished by the end of October. On November 3, the
anniversary of the birth of the Emperor Meiji, a completion ceremony for the
Koromo Plant was held with the participation of plant-affiliated parties.
Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. was established on August 28, 1937
(the registration date), but it was decided that the company's founding would
be designated as November 3, 1938, the effective date of its start as a company
(the date of completion of the Koromo Plant).
Construction of other facilities including a test track and
an aircraft research building commenced after November 1938 and were completed
by March 1939.
The plant layout drawings for the first phase of
construction of the Koromo Plant, which was completed in November 1938, are as
shown in Figure 2-1. The site area was approximately 500,000 square meters, and
the building area was approximately 200,000 square meters. Total construction
costs were 45 million yen.
Installation of
equipment at the Machining Plant No. 3 of the Koromo Plant (October 1938)
As can be seen in Table 1-5, the Koromo Plant was an
integrated production plant that included all processes necessary for
automobile production including casting and forging blank processes, machining,
mechanical assembly, stamping, body assembly, painting, and overall assembly.
Each process was laid out so they were connected, and the Koromo Plant formed
the basis of future plants.
With regard to the continuity of the processes, various
transport conveyors were installed in sand processing facilities and casting
sand transport systems in the casting plant as well as the painting plant and
the final assembly plant with the aim of flow production based on the
Just-in-Time system (see Item 5.). Initially, a conveyor system was not
installed in the machining shop, but overhead space was provided in the plant
building and electric lines and steam and compressed air pipes were placed in
underground pits or on poles to avoid interference with other facilities when a
conveyor was later installed and secure the space needed for a conveyor.
In addition to these direct production facilities, the plant
also included a test track, forging (blacksmithing) shop, maintenance shop,
warehouses, a cafeteria, and more. The engineering divisions included the
Administration Office (including the Engineering Officers Office), Design
Office, Chemical Testing Office, Vehicle Testing Office, Aircraft Research
Office, Photo Office (Drawing Office), and Prototype Office. In addition, the
site also included a head office Administration Office, dorms, a school (to
train technical workers), and other administrative and benefit-related
facilities.
Kiichiro Toyoda made the following statement concerning the
significance of the Koromo Plant:
“Our mission is to make the car a more complete, more
convenient, and more economical product. We have been investigating the
question of whether there is a way to make these improvements as quickly as
possible without any sacrifices for the past five years. It requires
fundamental reforms in plant organization.
We made substantial efforts with the Kariya Plant, but we
were unable to make the reforms that we intended. Toyoda did not start making
automobiles with the expectations that it would be a major source of income
from the beginning. There is no value in conducting a car business with the
factory organizations that cannot make progress in reforms. We then moved to
the Koromo Plant with completely new facilities and a new organization. If we
extended the Kariya Plant, we could have used somewhere around 700,000 to
1,000,000 m2, but the major reforms that we were seeking would not have been
achieved, so we decided to try building a completely new plant at Koromo
despite the inconvenience. When Koromo Plant was completed, we established an
organization that could quickly make improvements with a minimum of sacrifice.
Source: TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION
No comments:
Post a Comment