Toyota has named Toshiharu Takasu as President of Toyota Motor Manufacturing France (TMMF), effective April 30. Mr. Takasu, who has been Senior Vice-President Manufacturing at TMMF since September 1999, will replace Hiroaki Watanabe. Mr. Watanabe, who served as TMMF President from October 1998, will return to Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan to assume new responsibilities. Claude Boulle, TMMF Vice-President Administration, and Didier Leroy, TMMF Vice-President Manufacturing, will report directly to Mr. Takasu.
“We welcome and congratulate Toshiharu Takasu, who we feel confident will continue the innovation, dedication and drive displayed by his predecessor,” said Dr. Shuhei Toyoda, President Toyota Motor Europe. “At the same time, we thank Hiroaki Watanabe for his many valuable contributions. He was instrumental in the creation and start-up of the Valenciennes production plant.”
Toyota’s Valenciennes car plant, which began production of the Yaris in January 2001, now employs 2,200 people and will produce some 130,000 vehicles in 2002. In 2003, annual production capacity of the French car plant will increase to 180,000 units. On April 22, the Valenciennes car plant produced the 100,000th Yaris “made in Europe.”
On April 25, TMMF also started engine assembly in Valenciennes-Onnaing. The engine plant will assemble 180,000 engines annually by 2003 – 150,000 petrol engines and 30,000 diesel engines. The new facility – located alongside Toyota’s Yaris production plant – represents an investment of € 22 million and will employ a total of 140 people by 2003.
Toshiharu Takasu (55) joined Toyota Motor Corporation in 1969, with a diploma in electrical engineering from the university of Nagoya. He started his career in the maintenance section of the administration division at the Takaoka plant. By 1990, Mr. Takasu was assistant general manager of the manufacturing division of the Takaoka plant. That same year, he was sent to the U.S., where he worked as senior co-ordinator of N.U.M.M.I. (New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.) in San Francisco. In 1994, he returned to Japan where he worked as general manager of the manufacturing division at the Takaoka plant and then of the quality control division. In January 1999, he was assigned as general manager of the France project, before becoming senior vice president of manufacturing at TMMF in September of the same year. Mr. Takasu is married, has two children, and lives in Saint-Saulve, near Valenciennes.
Hiroaki Watanabe (61) joined Toyota Motor Corporation in 1966, as a graduate of Masters degree Science and Engineering of Tokyo Institute of Technology. He spent the bulk of his career overseas. First he was appointed Deputy Managing Director of Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK (TMUK) in 1990, where he spent fours years and in 1996 he became President and CEO of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) where he remained in office for two and a half years. Upon his return to Japan, in May 1998, he was appointed Senior General Manager of the France Project Department at Toyota Motor Corporation. Mr. Watanabe occupied the position of President of Toyota Motor Manufacturing France S.A.S. (TMMF) since October 1998.
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