My name is Katsuaki Watanabe.
This year marks a milestone. We celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Toyota Motor Corporation as well as the 50th anniversary of the foundation of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Today, I would like to talk about our reinforcement initiatives for the future.
In recent years, the situation surrounding corporations has changed dramatically. One of the greatest changes is the increasing demand for corporate social responsibility to take on global environmental problems such as global warming, depletion of natural resources and air pollution.
Global environmental issues are garnering worldwide concern, and harmony with society and the earth's natural environment has become a priority management issue for the automobile industry as well.
What responsibilities does Toyota have toward the earth and society?
For all our initiatives the key phrase is: "3 sustainabile concepts". We are pursuing sustainability in our research and development, in making things and in our contributions to society.
In the area of research and development, we are promoting initiatives to achieve "sustainable mobility", an automobile society that exists in harmony with the earth. We strongly believe that without focusing on environmental, energy and safety measures there can be no future for motor vehicles.
First, we are making advances on issues connected to energy and the environment. In May of this year global cumulative sales of Toyota hybrid vehicles topped 1 million, thanks to the support of customers. Our plan is now to sell more than 1 million units in the early part of the 2010s by expanding our model range. Toyota has positioned hybrid technologies as core technologies and will develop them with a commitment to leading the way in that field.
We are also accelerating our research and development of plug-in hybrid vehicles, which feature an improvement on the conventional hybrid vehicle battery in order to pursue vehicle energy diversification and even further control of CO2 emissions. This groundbreaking technology makes it possible to charge a vehicle using household electricity.
Furthermore, we are working on plans to upgrade our current powertrains in order to extensively increase efficiency, and hope to completely revamp the engine and transmission lineup by the year 2010. Toyota was the first to develop and produce a clean diesel engine combined with the highly efficient catalyst "DPNR".
As a part of that effort, we recently announced the development of Valvematic (a variable valve lift mechanism) for engines, which reduces CO2 emissions by 5-10% through improved gasoline performance.
We are also proactively carrying out research and development on diesel engines that offer enhanced environmental capabilities.
In terms of energy diversification, in May of this year the Corolla Flex and Corolla Fielder Flex were introduced in Brazil. Both flex-fuel vehicles are able to run on 100% ethanol.
Also, research and development of biomass energy and other alternative fuels is steadily proceeding.
The latest technologies are being incorporated into specific product plans based on the concept of "the right vehicle for the right place at the right time."
Turning to the issue of safety, both "active safety", which pursues safety prior to a collision, and "passive safety", which pursues safety after a collision, our aim is to produce a vehicle that does not cause accidents. At the same time, we would like to help realize the ultimate goal of a mobile society that has eradicated traffic fatalities.
We are also developing groundbreaking new technology that is the first of its kind in the world and advancing efforts to commercialize it. Our Pre-crash Safety System, with which the Lexus LS460 and LS600h come equipped, offers features that include front-end pedestrian detection and rear-end vehicle detection functions, which could be described as the world's first safety technologies of their kind.
Meanwhile, we are continuing to equip a wider range of vehicles with the safety systems that we have already developed. This includes the plans announced recently of steadily expanding the introduction of our Active Headrest in vehicles.
Today, it is my pleasure to share with you that, following the launch of a new model this month, all new passenger vehicles in Japan will come standard with side-impact-reducing air bags and curtain shield air bags as a passive safety measure.
We will continue our efforts to enhance safety equipment.
With an eye toward the future, we are conducting a wide variety of research and development and are using Toyota technologies for the creation of a more prosperous society.
For instance, the Toyota Partner Robots, which were unveiled at Expo 2005 held in Aichi, Japan, are a perfect example of how Toyota's technology for making things is applied, including mobility technology and production technology.
The four main fields of use for Toyota Partner Robots are:
- Assistance with housework and other chores
- Care for the elderly and other medical support
- Production support
- Personal transport assistance for short distances
While still at the research stage, I believe that through further innovation future Toyota Partner Robots will move about autonomously and help us in our lives.
In addition, we are also continuing with our development of the "Toyota Dream House", which employs environmental and IT technologies.
We are also making progress in our efforts to "build a dream city", incorporating the themes "sustainable city and transportation" and "good for the environment, good for the people".
We will strengthen development of ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) technology further, which is vital to these fields of city and transportation.
With an eye to the future, Toyota is working hard to create a prosperous society in terms of mobility, living environment, urban space and global environment.
The second sustainability concept concerns pursuing sustainability while manufacturing products.
It is important to keep operating our plants, where the concept of making things is actually put into practice. Toyota will begin a sustainable plant initiative.
Our sustainable plant activities aim to create plants that both make use of nature yet exist in harmony with the natural environment.
Specifically, we are creating plants on the basis of the following three perspectives:
- Reduction of CO2 by using renewable energy, including biomass and natural energies such as solar and wind.
- Contributions to the local community and environmental conservation through planting vegetation in and around the plant
- Realization of groundbreaking environmental performance through the introduction of innovative technology and kaizen (or improvement) activities
First of all, we have positioned our Tsutsumi Plant, where the Prius is produced, as a model sustainable plant, and we are developing initiatives there.
In addition to the gas engine cogeneration system that has already been introduced, specifically we are striving to further reduce CO2 emissions through the provision of electricity resulting from photovoltaic generation.
We will also apply photocatalytic paint to the exterior walls of our assembly plants, as an environmentally considerate coating material, and this is expected to have the effect of breaking down nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx) in the air equivalent in effect to 2,000 poplar trees. In line with these efforts, we are also actively engaged in the planting of vegetation in and around the plant.
Meanwhile, at the Takaoka Plant, we are currently introducing a new innovative assembly line. Through this initiative of introducing innovative technology, not only will the production system be further simplified and productivity increased, but energy efficiency will also be greatly improved.
We will continue with further innovations and kaizen (or improvements) to make a sustainable plant a reality, and simultaneously we plan to gradually expand activities at other vehicle manufacturing plants and component plants in Japan and at those overseas.
The third sustainability concept is the pursuit of sustainability to make a prosperous society.
Based on the concept of "Sustainable Human & Social Development", we are promoting social contribution activities, including "training and educating people" and "creating a system to firmly establish these activities."
For example, in China tree planting efforts have been implemented in local communities together with local people.
Toyota has developed afforestation programs to combat desertification and fruit-tree cultivation techniques, which are connected to the livelihood of local communities. We are moving forward with efforts for sustainable social development, such as creating systems for passing on knowledge within the community.
In the future, we will expand our global afforestation activities to other parts of Asia, starting with the Philippines.
In the United States, we are carrying out educational initiatives, including efforts to help improve the literacy rate.
Turning to Japan, along with our dealers we are offering assistance to local communities for educational activities, including cultural and social aspects. We have been working hand-in-hand with local dealers for more than 30 years on activities that include traffic-safety education and support for local amateur orchestras. In total, we have helped with 1,200 separate activities and distributed 120 million picture books.
We intend to offer even more help in the future.
In addition, the Toyota Foundation's endowment of 30 billion yen has been increased by 10 billion yen, and we are considering increasing it by another 10 billion yen in the future to assist social contribution activities conducted by the Foundation.
More than ever, Toyota has been actively promoting social contribution activities tailored to the needs of each country and region.
In the future, we will further strengthen our social contribution activities under the key concept of "sustainability."
At Toyota, we continue to work hard while asking ourselves, "Is Toyota really contributing to the earth and society?"
Finally, I would like to express our gratitude for your guidance and cooperation. We appreciate your continued help and encouragement.
Thank you very much. |
