Entrepreneurs

Kiichirō Toyoda

Born in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, in 1894, Kiichiro Toyoda was the eldest son of Sakichi Toyoda, the inventor of the automatic loom. After studying mechanical engineering at Tokyo Imperial University, he supported his father's textile-machinery business while researching automotive engineering. In 1937 he established Toyota Motor Corporation and took on the challenge of mass-producing a domestically made passenger car. A postwar financial crisis forced his resignation as president in 1950; he died suddenly in 1952 at the age of 57, just before his planned return. He is the intellectual wellspring of the Toyota Production System.

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