Section 6. Postwar Arrangements and Labor Disputes
Item 2. Company Reconstruction
Company Reconstruction Measures
Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. received approval for the manufacturing of trucks on September 25, 1945, and was granted approval for conversion to meet civilian demand on December 8 that year.
At that time, Executive Vice President Hisayoshi Akai was fatally wounded in a traffic accident on December 10, 1945. The sudden death of Executive Vice President Akai-who had taken charge of the running of the company for President Kiichiro Toyoda when it was placed under military supervision during the war-was a heavy blow to the company.
I'm not sure whether this can be achieved but, for now, success or failure is a separate issue. By striving to push forward and resolving not to stop until we collapse, we must open up a way to bring the company back to life.
He then presented a four point plan to be implemented:
- 1) In order to repair and renew machinery that has undergone heavy use or deteriorated, establish a Temporary Reconstruction Office to comprehensively promote the restoration of the plant's equipment.
- 2) Change the company's parts manufacturing policies to establish and develop a specialized parts plant equipped with independent capacity.
- 3) Implement improvement and remodeling of the company's vehicles (which was stagnant during the war), plans for design changes, and establishment of a system for the steady supply of previous model parts for repairs.
- 4) Change from a company that supplied and maintained automobiles under a controlled economy to establish a sales system that will better and more fully reflect users' wishes, requests and opinions.
These initiatives are described in detail hereafter.