Eiji Toyoda 豊田 英二 | |
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| Born | (1913-09-12)12 September 1913 |
| Died | 17 September 2013(2013-09-17) (aged 100) |
| Education | Tokyo Imperial University |
| Occupations | President (1967–1981) andChairman (1981–1994) Toyota Motor Corporation |
Eiji Toyoda (豊田 英二,Toyoda Eiji; 12 September 1913 – 17 September 2013)[1] was a Japanese engineer and industrialist. He was largely responsible for bringingToyota Motor Corporation to profitability and worldwide prominence during his tenure as president and later, as chairman.[2] He was succeeded as the president of Toyota byShoichiro Toyoda.
Toyoda studiedmechanical engineering atTokyo Imperial University from 1933 to 1936.[3] During this time his cousinKiichiro established an automobile plant at theToyoda Automatic Loom Works in the city of Nagoya in central Japan.[3] Toyoda joined his cousin in the plant at the conclusion of his degree and throughout their lives they shared a deep friendship. In 1938, Kiichiro asked Eiji to oversee construction of a newer factory about 32 km east of Nagoya on the site of a red pine forest in the town of Koromo, later renamedToyota City.[4] Known as the Honsha ("headquarters") plant, to this day it is considered the "mother factory" for Toyota Motor production facilities worldwide.[4]
Toyoda visitedFord River Rouge Complex atDearborn, Michigan, during the early 1950s. He was awed by the scale of the facility but dismissive of what he saw as its inefficiencies.[5] Toyota Motor had been in the business of manufacturing cars for 13 years at this stage, and had produced just over 2,500 automobiles. The Ford plant in contrast manufactured 8,000 vehicles a day.[3] Due to this experience, Toyoda decided to adopt American automobile mass production methods but with a qualitative twist.[citation needed]
Toyoda collaborated withTaiichi Ohno, a veteran loom machinist, to develop core concepts of what later became known as the 'Toyota Production System', such as theKanban system of labeling parts used on assembly lines, which was an early precursor to bar codes.[5] They also fine-tuned the concept ofKaizen, a process of incremental but constant improvements designed to cut production and labor costs while boosting overall quality.[5]
As a managing director of Toyota Motor, Toyoda failed in his first attempt to crack the U.S. market with the underpoweredToyota Crown sedan in the 1950s, but he succeeded with theToyota Corolla compact in 1968, a year after taking over as president of the company.[5] During the car's development phase, Toyoda, as executive vice-president, had to overcome the objections of then-president Fukio Nakagawa to install a newly developed 1.0-liter engine, air conditioning and automatic transmissions in the Corolla.[4]
Appointed the fifth president of Toyota Motor, Toyoda went on to become the company's longest serving chief executive thus far.[4] In 1981, he stepped down as president and assumed the title of chairman. He was succeeded as president byShoichiro Toyoda.[4] In 1983, as chairman, Eiji decided to compete in the luxury car market, which culminated in the 1989 introduction ofLexus.[4] Toyoda stepped down as chairman of Toyota in 1994 at the age of 81.[5]
In his later years, Toyoda was hospitalised for hip problems, and needed to use a wheelchair for a time, yet remained affable and enjoyed tackling sudoku puzzles. He spent most of his last years undergoing treatment at the Toyota Memorial Hospital inToyota City, Japan, close to company headquarters.[6][7]
Five days after his100th birthday, Toyoda died of heart failure in the Toyota Memorial Hospital on 17 September 2013.[7][8] Paying tribute to Toyoda, David Cole, former chairman of theCenter for Automotive Research, said "He was a real visionary and inspirational leader who understood what it would take to make Toyota a successful company."[9] Leslie Kendall, curator of thePetersen Automotive Museum, described Toyoda as the Japanese equivalent ofHenry Ford.[9]
Born into a family oftextile manufacturers, Eiji Toyoda is the son of Heikichi Toyoda, the brother ofToyoda Loom Works founderSakichi Toyoda.[3] The descendants of Sakichi Toyoda have long dominated the upper management of Toyota Motors, which was incorporated in 1937. Eiji Toyoda died in September 2013. With his wife, Kazuko Toyoda (died 2002), he had three sons (Kanshiro, Tetsuro and Shuhei) and many grandchildren.[11]
| Sasuke | Heikichi | Asako | Sakichi | Tami | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kazuko | Eiji | Rizaburo | Aiko | Kiichiro | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kanshiro | Tetsuro | Shuhei | Tatsuro | Shoichiro | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Akio | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Business positions | ||
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| Preceded by Fukio Nakagawa | President ofToyota 1967–1982 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by New post | Chairman ofToyota 1982–1994 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
