The new 80 000m2 Toyota African Parts Centre has become the largest automotive parts warehouse in the Southern Hemisphere after Phase 2 has doubled its original size.
Starting out in 2012 as a 40 000m2 warehouse, the Atlas Parts Warehouse commenced with a R365 million expansion two years ago. Andrew Kirby, President and CEO of Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) formally opened Phase 2 of the company’s parts distribution centre in Boksburg. The addition doubles the size of the warehouse to 80 000m2 with Kirby stating that the facility will now be known as the Toyota Africa Parts Centre or the TAPC.
Equivalent to 11 soccer fields, the east Rand location for Toyota is now the largest automotive parts warehouse in the Southern Hemisphere and despite its impressive size, Kirby assures that it was a necessary addition. “Prior to the upgrade, we were working out of two warehouse units – it was key then for us to consolidate everything under one roof on one site in order to become more efficient in our operations.”
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Anand Pather, TSAM’s Vice President of Customer Services reaffirms that it was crucial to get operations and processes under one roof to achieve greater efficiency. He also added that “Toyota is globally renowned for its smart production and management systems,” which they wanted to replicate at their new warehouse.
Pather states that 2,7 million pieces of stock with a monetary value of R900 million can be found within the sizable Toyota African Parts Centre at any given time. The massive facility will supply 277 Toyota, Lexus and Hino dealerships within our borders as well as Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Eswatini (BLNE) too. Embracing its name, the Toyota African Parts Centre has also become a vital continental hub servicing a total of 36 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as a further six international export markets.
Plans for developing the Toyota African Parts Centre are not concluded yet as Pather mentioned that there are short term goals to go completely off grid through solar yield and battery storage, enabling the warehouse to service the continent consistently.