Monday 17 January 2011

R363 MILLION EKURHULENI INVESTMENT FOR TOYOTA SA


Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) today (17 January 2011) announced a R363 million investment into a new Parts Distribution Warehouse in the Ekurhuleni municipality. The warehouse is being developed in two phases and will serve TSAM’s local and export markets.

The new warehouse represents the largest single investment by TSAM in the Gauteng Province and it follows a five year R8 billion investment programme into its manufacturing facilities in Prospecton, Durban. Upon completion the new facility will cover 80 000 m2 and it will be the largest of its kind in Africa.

“The development of a distribution warehouse of this size and scale is one of the clearest signs that we are committed to South Africa and intent on remaining South Africa’s most popular vehicle manufacturer,” says Dr. Johan van Zyl, president and CEO of Toyota South Africa Motors and Managing Officer of Toyota Motor Corporation.

According to Van Zyl the new Parts Distribution Warehouse will allow the company to further improve the availability of service and replacement parts on all of its vehicles, while the efficiencies gained from its world class management systems will serve to contain the cost of these parts.

The new Parts Distribution Warehouse will boast state-of-the-art management and workflow systems that will ensure optimal man and machine separation. By utilising these technologies the new facility will become one of the most modern facilities in the global TMC network.

The first phase of the new Parts Distribution Warehouse will open in May 2012 with the first round of daily deliveries to the more than 220 Toyota, Lexus and Hino dealerships in Southern Africa. This phase will feature 39 000 m2 of warehouse space and 3 000 m2 of office space. More than 800 of TSAM’s staff compliment of 7 793 employees will be based here. The second phase will include a further 38 000 m2 of warehouse space and is scheduled for completion by or before 2015.

“Toyota South Africa will remain an integral member of Toyota Motor Corporation and will continue to produce vehicles in South Africa. In making this a reality we believe that the government, through the actions of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP) has created a stable and predictable environment in which we as manufacturers can make investments such as the one that we are announcing today” says Van Zyl.


STORY BY TOYOTA

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