Toyo moves headquarters closer to technology centre

Osaka, Japan – Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd. is relocating its headquarters to a new six-story building adjacent to its Tire Technical Centre in Itami, a community of about 200,000 adjacent to Osaka in Japan's Hyogo Prefecture.

The relocation from Osaka is expected to be completed by the end of May, Toyo said, with 290 employees moving to the new headquarters and 60 to the technical centre. It also brings the headquarters, tire technology development, and R&D functions into an area in close proximity with each other.

The move should help "further create corporate value through tighter cooperation and cohesion as well as swifter decision-making by concentrating our functions," Toyo said.

The move coincides with a function-based management restructuring that eliminates barriers between divisions, the company said.

Taking the opportunities afforded by this relocation, the company said it "will further enhance its sense of unity and mobility, strive to reinforce the management foundation truly as the one team, manufacture products that customers are happy with and fulfil its social mission."

The relocation also follows consolidation moves Toyo made in 2012 and 2013. In May 2012, the company dissolved the functions of its Tokyo headquarters and consolidated them into the Osaka headquarters. In November 2013, Toyo opened a Corporate Technology Centre in Kawanishi, a community adjacent to Itami, for basic research and development.

Toyo originally projected this move would be completed in 2015. The project was delayed because of the uncertainty caused by the scandals surrounding seismic rubber products contracts in 2015-16.