Eiji Toyoda

Eiji Toyoda (1913 to 2013) was a Japanese engineer and industrialist who led Toyota Motor Corporation to profitability and worldwide prominence as president and later chairman. He studied mechanical engineering at Tokyo Imperial University, joined his cousin Kiichiro at the Toyoda automobile plant and oversaw construction of the Honsha plant in Koromo, later Toyota City. After visiting the Ford River Rouge complex in the early 1950s he worked with Taiichi Ohno on what became the Toyota Production System, including the Kanban parts system and Kaizen. He became president in 1967, backed the Corolla, which succeeded in the United States in 1968, and as chairman decided in 1983 to enter the luxury market, which led to the Lexus brand introduced in 1989. He stepped down as chairman in 1994 and died in 2013 at the age of 100.