Toyota SA, recently named one of TMC’s six global spares distribution centres, has become “the parts basket” for its parent company’s entire African operations, the firm’s vice president for after-sales, Piet van Wyk de Vries, said.
Toyota SA, recently named one of TMC’s six global spares distribution centres, was becoming “the parts basket” for its parent company’s entire African operations, the firm’s vice president for after-sales Piet van Wyk de Vries said.
Toyota SA is already taking over from other Toyota facilities as the sole supplier of vehicle parts in Africa as a result of its new status as a major distribution centre, Van Wyk de Vries told yesterday.
He added that Toyota SA was supplying parts not only for South African-made vehicles in Africa, but for a range of vehicles imported from 24 African countries.
South Africa, Brazil and Singapore were chosen as the three southern hemisphere hubs for distribution. The move would see increased sales not only to Africa, but also to other parts of the world, such as Australia, Van Wyk de Vries said.
After-sales generated between 25 and 30 per cent of Toyota SA’s annual turnover and about 40 per cent of all parts sold by Toyota SA were locally-manufactured.
Van Wyk de Vries said R10 million had been invested to expand the Toyota SA’s Johannesburg distribution centre, claiming that the Prospecton-based manufacturer had improved stock order processing from 2500 minutes eight years ago to less than 200 minutes now. The number of parts handled at the Johannesburg facility had doubled to 300 000 over eight years.