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 delivery of completed vehicles to customers was carried out by individual delivery?in other words each car was driven individually to the customer location. This individual driving method was used to bring vehicles to the Toyota G1 Truck launch exhibition held in Tokyo from November 21 to 22, 1935. Subsequently, the method of transporting completed vehicles diversified to include rail, vehicle transporters, and ship. Overseas transportation of vehicles is carried out by ship, and this operation has also been the subject of various special measures and initiatives to ensure safety and reliability.