In Japan, there is a saying: if Toyota sneezes, Aichi Prefecture will catch a cold, and Toyota City will get pneumonia; if Toyota has a cold, Aichi Prefecture will get pneumonia, and Toyota City will face a life-threatening situation. This illustrates the significant impact Toyota has on the local economy.
When I was studying at Toyota, the company’s scale was still behind General Motors in the United States. However, times have changed, and since 2008, Toyota has become the indisputable leader in the global automotive industry.
Toyota has experienced the era of the first generation, Sakichi Toyoda, the second generation, Kiichiro Toyoda, and the third generation, Eiji Toyoda. In June 2009, power was returned to the Toyoda family, entering the current era of Akio Toyoda, during which there have also been periods when non-family members have led Toyota.
After taking over, Akio Toyoda always remembered his great-grandfather’s famous saying: ‘Open that window, and the world outside is vast.’ He often says himself: ‘Open the window, challenge the impossible in life, never give up on dreams, as long as you dare to dream, you can achieve it.’ He has experienced many car recall incidents and economic crises, but he has regained the public’s trust in Toyota.
During my time in Japan, I remember a phrase deeply: ‘Squeeze water out of a dry towel.’ At Toyota, this awareness is always reflected, leading to the work motto ‘Good products, good ideas,’ where everyone treats Toyota as their home and constantly contributes good suggestions to the company.
Whether it’s ‘Just-In-Time’ or ‘Kanban Management’, these well-known professional terms have become synonymous with Toyota’s management model, and are also one of the significant contributions Toyota has made to the world. However, it is only by standing beside the assembly line that one can truly comprehend the essence of Toyota’s management philosophy. Only by being with Toyota’s executives and workers can you truly experience the spirit of the Toyota people. And only by moving through different divisions of Toyota can you truly understand the reasons behind Toyota’s rise to become a giant in the industry.
When people travel to Japan, especially to Nagoya, they must visit Toyota City to see the grandeur and full scope of the world’s automotive behemoth, Toyota. After visiting the Toyota Museum, the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology, and the Toyota Stadium, one will have a different feeling. Toyota’s management methods and corporate culture have a significant impact on people.
The success I achieved in the insurance industry was largely due to my previous learning experience at Toyota. For a long time after returning to my country, I have been paying attention to Toyota vehicles and continuously studying them. There is always something to learn from Toyota, and there are countless stories to tell. The more one studies, the more surprises one discovers.
It was unexpected to learn that Toyota has an indissoluble connection with Shanghai. In Shanghai, several relics from Toyota’s early development in the city still remain, revealing and witnessing Toyota’s growth in Shanghai at that time. On Wanhangdu Road, Yuyuan Road, and Anxi Road in Shanghai, there are traces of Toyota’s past.
The story of Toyota on Wanhangdu Road: Mr. Sakichi Toyoda recognized the importance of the Chinese market for his business (the development of textile machinery) very early on. After establishing the Toyota Automatic Loom Works in Japan in 1918, he visited Shanghai to investigate the spinning industry that same year. By 1921, Sakichi Toyoda had established Toyota’s first company in China and overseas on Wanhangdu Road (in Changning District) – the Toyota Textile Mill.
On April 1, 2009, the Shanghai Wenhui Daily reported in an article titled ‘Preserving Urban Memory through ‘Industrial Heritage”, the reporter introduced the history of the ‘Toyota Memorial Hall’. The following is a summary of the introduction: The Shanghai Toyota Textile Mill (also known as Toyota Yarn Mill) Iron Works was established in 1921, covering an area of 12 acres, and was dedicated to repairing machinery for the Toyota Yarn Mill. In 1942, the Iron Works was renamed Toyota Machinery Manufacturing Society and later became an independent entity, Toyota Machinery Manufacturing Factory, becoming the first company established by Japanese merchants in China. In 1945, after Japan’s defeat in the invasion of China, the factory was taken over by the Kuomintang’s China Textile Construction Corporation as enemy property and renamed China Textile Construction Corporation Shanghai First Machinery Factory. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, it was taken over by the Shanghai Military Control Commission.
In 1950, the factory was transformed into the state-owned Shanghai First Textile Machinery Factory (reIn 2007, it was renamed Shanghai First Textile Machinery Co., Ltd. In March 2007, Toyota Textile China Co., Ltd. rented the old site of the ironwork department from Shanghai First Textile Machinery Co., Ltd., with the hope of converting it into the company’s industrial memorial in China (now completed, known as the Shanghai Toyota Textile Factory Memorial Hall).
After the liberation, the original Toyota spinning mill became ‘National Cotton Mill No. 5’. (To visit this place, take the subway lines 2, 3, and 4, get off at Zhongshan Park Station, and walk towards the Suzhou River for about 15 minutes to see it.) Studies have also found that Toyota spinning mill once planned to build a branch factory on Siliunan Road in Qingdao in 1934. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937, the factory buildings and equipment were destroyed by the Qingdao municipal authorities and later rebuilt. After the end of the war, it was taken over by the Qingdao branch of the Kuomintang’s China Textile Construction Company and renamed the Fourth Textile Mill of China Textile in Qingdao. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the spinning mill was renamed the state-owned Qingdao Fourth Cotton Textile Mill, and the iron factory was changed to the First Machinery Factory of China Textile in Qingdao.
The story of Toyota on Yuyuan Road, Yuyuan Road 1249 Lane, was the residence of senior staff of the original Japanese merchant Toyota spinning mill. On the east side of Anxi Road, on the south side of Yuyuan Road, two two-story buildings with two compartments were built for senior staff above the workshop manager to live in. It is said that the houses here are brick and wood structure buildings, all with red machine-made flat tile slope roofs. The architectural design of the houses here is of high standard, good shape, and large area, with each set of about 130 square meters, covering an area of 4955 square meters. (To get here, take the subway line 2 to Zhongshan Park Station, walk towards Yuyuan Road for about 10 minutes, and you can arrive.)
The story of Toyota on Anxi Road, Anxi Road 23 Lane, was originally the residence of the Japanese merchant Toyota spinning mill staff. In 1936, the Japanese merchant Toyota spinning mill built a total of 8 buildings and 56 buildings of staff residences here, covering an area of nearly 4000 square meters, with a construction area of nearly 3800 square meters. With the victory of the Anti-Japanese War and the liberation of Shanghai, this place became the fifth cotton spinning mill and textile bureau staff dormitory in Shanghai. It is said that the residence is a two-story brick and wood structure Japanese-style building, with a machine-made red flat tile roof, a fir wood floor, an exterior wall of clear joint brick wall with red bricks, a protruding balcony or a recessed balcony on the south side, and all balconies have floor-to-ceiling doors and windows, with wooden louvers outside the protruding balcony doors and windows to prevent rain splashing. (After visiting the senior staff residence of Toyota on Yuyuan Road, cross the street to Anxi Road and walk forward for about 5 minutes to arrive.)
In the study of Toyota’s development, the early development of Toyota in Shanghai has a great influence on Toyota today, this time point is very important and worth paying attention to. Whether it was the inventive achievements of Mr. Sakichi Toyoda that propelled the development of Toyota Automatic Loom Works, or the growth and overseas expansion of Toyota’s looms that continuously inspired one invention after another from Mr. Sakichi Toyoda, the evolution and strengthening of Toyota has been accomplished against such a backdrop. Some argue that, from a historical perspective, it was precisely the fortune from the Toyota Cotton Mill in Shanghai that paved the way for today’s Toyota industry and its glory, which seems to hold merit. Shanghai appears to be the ‘genesis’ of Toyota’s origins, and it also seems like Toyota’s ‘hometown’. It is said that each new generation of Toyota’s leaders, after taking over, must visit the Toyota Memorial Hall in Shanghai to ‘pay homage’, making it a place for Toyota executives to trace their roots. This is not only a travelogue of a city but also an industrial travelogue of a city, and more importantly, a recollection of a period of history. Sharing these stories with everyone can help to enhance understanding of Toyota.
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