Toyoda Gosei combines rubber units in major restructuring

Kiyosu, Japan – Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. has announced changes to corporate officer responsibilities, organisational structure and personnel, effective 1 Jan, the company announced 26 Dec 2025.

The changes include adjustments to executive responsibilities, the establishment of a new CxO role, and the reorganisation of several divisions, including those linked to the company’s core rubber business.

At executive level, Hiroshi Yasuda, executive vice president and representative director, retains his roles as COO and CMO, as well as chief of the corporate strategy, automotive business management and carbon neutrality and environment promotion division.
He additionally assumes responsibility as chief of the newly established “group & partners executive leadership development department.”

Mitsuhiro Nawashiro, director and corporate officer, remains CTO but steps down as chief of the R&D headquarters, taking on advisory roles to the Sales, R&D and new value business departments.

Masayoshi Hachisuka, director and corporate officer, continues as CFO, while responsibility for the IT digital headquarters is removed from his remit.

Among other changes, Yutaka Ogasawara, corporate officer, remains chief of the “FC and WS business” and is additionally appointed deputy chief of the automotive business management.

FC refers to ‘functional components’, while WS refers to weatherstrips, both of which form part of Toyoda Gosei’s rubber-based automotive product portfolio.

In parallel, Toyoda Gosei has created a new chief digital transformation officer (CDXO) position.

Tetsuya Ogata has been appointed to the role, which will be responsible for overseeing digital transformation initiatives and the stable operation of information systems.

The company is also reorganising its R&D, automotive business management and sales divisions.

As part of this, the R&D division is being restructured into an organisation specialising in ‘advanced development.’

New ‘advanced research and development division’ and ‘material development division’ are being established, while the existing mobility development division and technical administration division are being abolished.

In the area of rubber operations, Toyoda Gosei said it is consolidating production engineering development functions “in the company’s core rubber business” to improve knowledge sharing and collaboration.

As a result, the production engineering functions of the functional components production engineering division are being integrated with the weatherstrips development division, with the combined unit renamed the FC and WS development division.

The company said the organisational changes are intended to strengthen collaboration between development, production engineering and automotive business units, and to enhance the efficiency of research, development and market-facing activities.