Ryder Supply Chain recently received a Superior Award in the area of value improvement from Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc. at the company’s Annual Supplier Business Meeting and Awards Ceremony held in Covington, Ky.
The awards recognize those suppliers who exceeded the company’s expectations in the following areas: launch performance, technology, supplier diversity, value improvement and quality. Toyota’s annual event brings together about 500 North American suppliers to communicate objectives for the current year, recognize top supplier performance for the prior year and enhance relationships.
“TEMA works closely with our North American suppliers in order to build our top-quality vehicles,” says Atsushi “Art” Kume, TEMA senior vice president. “Therefore, we take this opportunity to recognize outstanding performance of our top suppliers. Suppliers’ commitment to continuous improvement is key to achieving Toyota’s long-term focus on quality and value.”
Toyota established operations in North America in 1957 and currently operates 13 manufacturing plants; new plants are under construction in Ontario, Canada and Mississippi. There are more than 1,700 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealerships in North America, which sold more than 2.9 million vehicles in 2007.
Toyota directly employs more than 43,000 in North America, and its investment here is currently valued at more than $21 billion, including sales and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and design. Toyota’s annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and services from North American suppliers totals more than $30 billion per year.
Toyota currently produces 11 vehicles in North America, including the Avalon, Camry, Camry Hybrid, Corolla, Matrix, Sienna, Solara, Sequoia, Tacoma, Tundra and the Lexus RX 350. When production begins in Ontario and Mississippi, Toyota will have 15 manufacturing plants with the annual capacity to build about 2.2 million cars and trucks, 1.49 million engines and 425,000 automatic transmissions.
