30 May 2006
Lindsay Chappell, Automotive News
Detroit, Michigan -Suppliers will get better access to Toyota Motor Corp.'s North American business now that the automaker has merged its US manufacturing and R&D headquarters.
"They can talk to either our R&D people in Michigan or our manufacturing people in Kentucky, and we'll share the information," Toyota spokesman Dan Sieger says. "Both of those groups can now speak to suppliers with a single voice."
The change is a milestone for Toyota. For 20 years, it has expanded US operations through independently run subsidiaries. Its North American vehicle R&D was managed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and manufacturing operations were based in Erlanger, Kentucky.
Toyota unified those separate US subsidiaries in April under the new name of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc., based in Erlanger.
The merger gives Toyota more flexibility with staff, Sieger says. Previously, for engineers to move from Ann Arbor to Erlanger, they had to resign from the R&D subsidiary, cash out retirement plans and then enter the manufacturing company as new hires. Under the new structure, the move is expected to be a simple reassignment.
From Automotive News (A Crain publication)
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