Completed Vehicle Logistics

The comprehensive elimination of muda (wasteful practices) began with the production process, but following the 1982 merger of Toyota Motor Co., Ltd., and Toyota Motor Sales Co., Ltd., logistics processes within sales divisions became the focus of ongoing improvements based on the Toyota Production System. At the time of the merger, a Transportation Administration Office was set up as part of the corporate organization which implemented improvements through its three constituent logistics divisions: the Domestic Transportation Department, which oversaw the transportation within Japan of completed vehicles; the Overseas Transportation Department, responsible for overseas transportation; and the Parts Supply and Transportation Department, which handled spare parts and accessories. Improvement initiatives have continued and expanded in scope to cover logistics operations relating to the globalization of production, which began with the 1984 launch of operations at NUMMI, and the transportation of completed vehicles in cooperation with dealers in Japan.

Initiatives on environmental issues are also being actively promoted: in 1998, initiatives began with input from the Production Environment Committee and the Plant Production Environmental Subcommittee, subsidiary organizations of the company-wide Toyota Environment Committee, with the main focus on reducing CO2 emissions in transportation operations and decreasing the amount of packing materials used. More recently, in 2006, as one means of implementing modal shift, transportation of production parts via the Japan Railways network began. For the transportation of production parts to the Iwate Plant of Kanto Auto Works, Ltd., a dedicated train known as the Toyota Longpass Express started a daily round trip between Nagoya South Cargo Station and Morioka Terminal Station (approximately 900 km each way), reducing CO2 emissions by 2,300 tons a year, a decrease of approximately 35%.

In Toyota's founding days, the...