Section 3. Expansion of Asian Markets and Developments in Oceania

Item 3. Intra-Regional Support Systems Developed

Support systems and R&D in production and sales

Marketing coordinating functions for Southeast Asia were performed by TMSS. In 2001, TMSS was renamed Toyota Motor Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. (TMAP, now TMAP-MS) and was given a larger structure. With the aim of reinforcing support to subsidiaries in the ASEAN region (which was undergoing economic consolidation), TMAP also undertook support for vehicle sales, marketing, and after-sales services, training for distributors in each country, and import/export operations for completely built vehicles and spare parts inside and outside the region.

From the second half of the 1990s and thereafter, globalization rapidly progressed and human resource development in production fields became an urgent task in regions around the world. TMC responded to these developments by establishing the Global Production Center (GPC) in its Motomachi Plant in Toyota City in 2003. The GPC established branches in major regions around the world and created the Asia Pacific Global Production Center (AP-GPC) within TMT in 2005. The AP-GPC conducted training for staff in Thailand, and in August 2006 it adopted the role of training center for all of Asia.

In July of that year, Toyota Motor Asia Pacific Co., Ltd. (TMAP Thailand) was established within TMT and assumed responsibility for AP-GPC's management as well as the production, procurement, and logistics support for manufacturing affiliates in Asian countries. As a result, both TMT and TMAP-MS developed production and sales support systems.

In the research and development area, the Toyota Technical Center Asia Pacific (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (TTCAP-TH) was established in 2003 as the third development site outside Japan following the United States and Europe, and operations began in 2005. TTCAP-TH developed bodies and exclusive specifications that reflected preferences in Asian markets, establishing development systems to incorporate local needs.

TMAP Thailand and TTCAP-TH merged in 2007 to form Toyota Motor Asia Pacific Engineering and Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TMAP-EM). The role of the new company was to integrate operations in Asia from development to production preparations, production, procurement, and logistics, to reinforce operations by each production affiliate, and to support further localization. TMAP-EM also collaborated with TMAP-MS to promote further autonomy in Asia through integration of manufacturing and sales.

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