| Mark Adams |
In 2009, Toyota Europe used only half of their 700,000 units of installed capacity. This year, they have continued to trim output at plants in Britain and on the Continent as sales remain weak. Toyota Europe purchasing boss Mark Adams knows that the turmoil has hit many of his 245 suppliers hard. More than a third of them were “financial wrecks” coming into 2010, he said in a recent interview.
For Adams, an 18-year company veteran steeped in the Toyota Way, the distress of his suppliers meant that he and the company had two firm obligations: to lend a hand and to deal fairly and honestly with any of their problems. “Toyota and its suppliers work together as one entity, not only in times of prosperity, but also in adversity,” he said.
Toyota buy 95% of their parts for European production in Europe, with the remaining 5% still coming from Japan. Roughly 50% of the purchasing bill goes to European suppliers and half to the European subsidiaries of Japanese companies.
“We have been buying parts in Europe for almost 20 years,” he says. “Any company unable to become one of our suppliers probably understands that we have very high requirements – and that we are not relinquishing any of them.”
