PLANO, Texas, Nov. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its
commitment to mobility and helping people find better ways to go
places, Toyota Motor North America, Inc. (TMNA) today announced
several changes to its organization to further improve
unprecedented changes to the automotive landscape.
Effective immediately, TMNA will establish a Manufacturing
Project Innovation Center (MPIC), a new group based at its
headquarters to be led by Mike Bafan, group vice president.
Bafan will remain chairman of Toyota Motor Manufacturing de
Baja California (TMMBC) and Toyota
Motor Manufacturing de Guanajuato
(TMMGT).
MPIC will focus on strategic manufacturing initiatives related
to mobility transformation; CASE (connected, autonomous, shared,
electric) technologies; benchmarking; and advanced processing
initiatives that incorporate new technology at the company's 15
North American manufacturing facilities. MPIC will report directly
to Christopher Reynolds,
chief administration officer, manufacturing and corporate
resources.
TMNA will assign manufacturing leaders to align and improve the
operational speed and transformation at its North American vehicle
plants based on platforms and common architectures as follows:
- Susan Elkington will
assume additional responsibility as passenger car and SUV platform
leader in addition to her current role, president, Toyota Motor
Manufacturing, Kentucky (TMMK).
Elkington will have responsibilities for platform and operational
alignments for TMMK, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada; Toyota
Motor Manufacturing, Indiana; and
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Mississippi.
- Kevin Voelkel will assume
additional responsibility as truck platform leader in addition to
his current role, president, Toyota Motor Manufacturing,
Texas (TMMTX). Voelkel will have
responsibilities for platform and operational alignments for TMMTX;
TMMBC; TMMGT; and Toyota Auto Body California.
Elkington and Voelkel will continue to report to Brian Krinock, senior vice president,
vehicle manufacturing and production engineering.
"These improvements will enable our manufacturing team to better
respond to our customers' needs as we transform our business into a
world-class mobility company," said Reynolds. "We are more
confident than ever that we're at the leading-edge of our
industry's transformation and have positioned ourselves for
long-term, sustainable success."
With more than $27 billion in
direct U.S. investment, including 10 U.S. plants, Toyota has
committed to invest $13 billion more
in the U.S. by 2021.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in
the U.S. and North America for
more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable,
next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus
brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous
value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design,
engineering, and assembly of more than 38 million cars and trucks
in North America, where we have 14
manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in
Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and
directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the
U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in
the U.S.) sold 2.8 million cars and trucks (2.4 million in the
U.S.) in 2018.
Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights
the way it partners with community, civic, academic and
governmental organizations to address our society's most pressing
mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move,
anything is possible. For more information about Toyota,
visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.
Media Contacts:
Victor Vanov
469-292-1318
victor.vanov@toyota.com
Marjorie Schussel
469-292-2404
marjorie.schussel@toyota.com
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SOURCE Toyota Motor North America