Section 9. Preparations for Mass Production and Mass Sales
Item 7. Establishment of the Toyota Technical Center
Engineering facilities during the founding period
At the Koromo Plant, completed in November 1938, the Engineering Department facilities were installed on the north side (near the current Office Building No. 2) of the Head Office building in Toyota City, while buildings such as the Design Office, Chemical Laboratory, and Vehicle Testing Office were lined up on the south side (Table 1-48). The combined total floor area of all engineering department facilities, including the Administration Office and the Aircraft Research Office, was 3,947 square meters. All of these facilities built during the founding period of the Koromo Plant were still being used after the war, except that the Aircraft Research Office was changed to a prototyping plant.
When development of the Crown began in 1952, Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. was producing the BX large truck, the SG small truck, the SF compact passenger car, and the BJ four-wheel drive car, and the company was expecting to increase the number of models as cars became more popular.1 Furthermore, Toyota had adopted a completed vehicle sales method beginning with the BX large truck developed in 1951 and was planning to internally design and manufacture the body for the RS Crown then under development, further increasing the number of vehicle development and design steps required. Thus, expansion of the engineering department became an urgent necessity.
Table 1-48. Engineering Department Facilities and the Koromo Plant (1939)
Facility
|
Area
|
Organizations
|
---|---|---|
Administrative Office
|
713 m2
|
Plant Executive Section, Administrative Section (Machine Research Association, Audit Improvement Section, Inspection Section, Planning and Research Section)
|
Design Office
|
792 m2
|
Design Division (Design Section)
|
Photo Office (To east of Design Office)
|
106 m2
|
|
Chemical Testing Office
|
776 m2
|
Research Division (Motor Vehicle Research Section: Materials Testing), Administrative Section, General Analysis Section, Special Analysis Section, Silicon Analysis Section, Machine Testing Section, Electrochemical Testing Section, Organic Chemical Testing Section, Metallurgy Section
|
Vehicle Testing Office
|
396 m2
|
Research Division Motor Vehicle Research Section: Materials Testing), Engine Testing Section, Vehicle Testing Section, Calculating in Drafting Section, Machine Tool Section
|
Prototype Plant
|
792 m2
|
Design Division (Prototype Plant, Wood Die Plant)
|
Aircraft Research Office (To east of Prototype Plant)
|
370 m2
|
Research Division (Special Research: Aircraft)
|
- Source:
- Organizational Table as of June 1939 (A Thirty-Year History of Toyota, organizational table in separate volume). Plant layout diagram.