Charles R. Goulding and Aaron Rofe break down Toyota Group’s bold move to privatize Toyota Industries and double down on 3D printing-driven efficiency.
Toyota Group recently announced plans to take its key group company, Toyota Industries Corporation, private. Toyota Industries is a global mobility company. It is the world’s largest manufacturer of forklifts. The deal is led by a new holding company primarily owned by Toyota Fudosan Co., Ltd., an unlisted real estate firm chaired by Toyota Motor Corporation Chairman Akio Toyoda. Other Toyota Group Companies, including Toyota Motor, Aisin Corporation, Denso Corporation, and Toyota Tsusho Corporation, are participating in the transactions. The total value of the reported deal is approximately 4.7 trillion yen (US$33 billion).
The move comes as Japanese companies face mounting pressure from regulators and investors to unwind complex cross-ownership structures. These structures, which historically have been used to protect against acquisition threats, are being reviewed to improve corporate governance, enhance transparency, and boost shareholder returns. Toyota Group is focusing on reviewing its capital relationships from FY2023 to ensure continued growth and discuss its optimal formation as a mobility company.
The stated reasons for going private include the intention for Toyota Industries to deepen collaboration within the Toyota Group and dynamically and swiftly advance its activities related to “goods” as the group transforms into a mobility company. Toyota Industries focuses on the movement of goods, developing autonomous technologies for logistics equipment like forklifts, logistics management software, and environmentally friendly powertrains. The privatization is expected to allow for swifter advancement in these areas and lead the way in the mobility sector for “goods”. The deal will dissolve some cross-shareholding, such as that between Toyota Industries and Aisin, Denso, and Toyota Tsusho, although Toyota Motor will continue to invest in Toyota Industries via preferred shares.
While the Toyota Group navigates significant corporate restructuring, its factories continue to optimize manufacturing processes using advanced technologies like 3D printing. Toyota manufacturing plants in Poland, which specialize in assembling hybrid and conventional drives and engines for cars shipped across Europe, have been using Zortrax 3D printers for years. According to Toyota, investment in this technology can pay for itself within one year. The primary application for 3D printers at these facilities is the on-demand manufacturing of various jigs and fixtures, categorized by function as positioning jigs, assembly jigs, assembly tools, and seals and covers. Toyota engineers utilize 3D printing for rapid prototyping and production of end-use tools, allowing for swift geometry changes and on-the-fly design adjustments, with engineers able to go through multiple design changes and print consecutive versions in just one shift
Positioning jigs demonstrate the surprisingly long lifespan achievable with 3D printed parts, particularly when combined with other manufacturing technologies. For instance, a jig prototype with a 3D printed body incorporated metal components and CNC-milled nylon parts for contact points to enhance durability. Although this prototype lacked proper sliding bearings and its tolerances were slightly off, it was used daily for half a year before breaking. When it broke, a replacement could be printed on the same Zortrax M300 Plus printer in just 7 hours, a replacement speed impossible without 3D printing.
For larger tools like engine block covers, 3D printing is used for efficient prototyping, often printed in multiple parts and assembled for geometry checks and fine-tuning, with final components typically 3D printed on industrial machines. Toyota engineers highlight the agility of 3D printing technology as its key advantage, even more so than manufacturing speed, as it eliminates the need to stock spare parts and reduces lead times from weeks to days or even hours by allowing on-demand printing and free design optimization. Before adopting 3D printing, jig fabrication was limited by the constraints of traditional subtractive manufacturing methods like CNC machining. Over 95% of the 3D printed jigs at the factory are manufactured using LPD technology, and integrating other solutions like the Zortrax Apoller for vapor smoking or the industrial Zortrax Endureal for high-performance polymers expands the range of applications, leveraging 3D printing for a variety of functional tools that enhance operational efficiency and flexibility on the assembly line.
DENSO divested its entire interest in Toyota Industries. DENSO is a Japan-headquartered, auto parts manufacturer. DENSO formed an additive manufacturing team in 2020, assigning it to the North America Production Innovation Centers’s (NAPIC) engineering group in Southfield, Michigan. This work is considered a “new frontier” by John Baciak, a DENSO Materials Engineer. Additive Manufacturing (AM) involves adding material layer by layer to create objects, booting digital flexibility and efficiency, in contrast to traditional methods that remove material. John’s team provides engineering support, collaborating with AM design engineers, including the Green Technology Group (GTG) Energy Management Engineering (EME) R&D department, in Michigan. DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee (DMTN) is central to these efforts, housing advanced equipment like hybrid laser-powered bed fusion and binder jet machines.
DENSO sees AM as crucial for future growth, as it can deliver parts with improved performance, simplified fabrication, reduced costs, and unique features that increase parts’ lifespan by making them “wear” less. The company’s ambitious goal is to produce the first high-volume production auto part globally within DENSO as early as 2027. Dave Grimmer, NAPIC’s Senior Vice President, acknowledges that while the additive process itself isn’t new, ongoing technological innovations have significantly increased its speed and size, enabling it to compete with the cost of traditional manufacturing. He predicts that AM will rival traditional manufacturing costs within five years and surpass them in ten, positioning North America as a global strength for DENSO through innovative teamwork.
Further demonstrating its commitment, DENSO invested in Seurat Technologies in June 2021, participating in its Series B funding round to accelerate the development and commercialization of Seurat’s patented Area Printing technology. This technology allows for cost-effective mass production of metal parts with high speed, precision, part integrity, and reliability, offering a solution that could significantly reduce production times and enhance DENSO’s ability to adapt to customer requirements. DENSO’s collaboration with Seurat, alongside its own solutions like the Factory-IoT Platform, exemplifies its broader digital transformation efforts in manufacturing. Raja Shembekar, Vice President of DENSO’s North America Production Innovation Center, highlighted Seurat’s Area Printing technology as a breakthrough. Beyond internal advancements and partnerships, DENSO also supports the broader development of AM skills through educational initiatives. The DENSO North America Foundation has a long-standing commitment to project-based learning in manufacturing at California State University Long Beach (CSULB). A recent DENSO grant to CSULB enabled the purchase of crucial equipment, including an X-ray CT Scanner and an Electronics 3D Printer. The CT scanner is vital for meticulously assessing the internal geometry of 3D printed products, ensuring higher durability and safety, particularly for automotive applications. The electronics 3D printer utilizes nano-metallic ink to create conductive electronic traces, opening possibilities for biomedical engineering, wearable electronics and microfluidics. This equipment, alongside existing metal 3D printers acquired with a 2018 DENSO grant, fuels faculty research and student projects, demonstrating DENSO’s comprehensive approach to driving the future of AM.
The Research & Development Tax Credit
The Research & Development Tax Credit (R&D) Tax Credit is available for companies developing new or improved products, processes, and/ or software.
3D printing can help boost a company’s R&D tax credits. Wages for technical employees creating, testing, and revising 3D printed prototypes can be included as a percentage of eligible time spent toward the R&D Tax Credit. Similarly, when used as a method of improving a process, time spent integrating 3D printing hardware and software qualifies as well. Lastly, when used for modeling and preproduction, the costs of filaments consumed during the development process may also be recovered.
Whether it is used for creating and testing prototypes or for final production, 3D printing is a great indicator that R&D Credit-eligible activities. Companies implementing this technology at any point should consider taking advantage of R&D Tax Credits.
Conclusion
In summary, Toyota Group’s ongoing transformation involves both significant high-level corporate strategy and ground-level operational efficiency. The planned privatization of Toyota Industries Corporation through a tender offer, valued at approximately 4.7 trillion yen (us$33 billion), is a major strategic move led by a new holding company chaired by Akio Toyoda. This aims to deepen collaboration within the group and accelerate Toyota Industries’ focus on the movement of “goods” as Toyota evolves from a strictly automobile manufacturer into a mobility company. Simultaneously, at the manufacturing level, Toyota plants utilize Zortrax 3D printers for agile, on-demand production of jigs, fixtures, tools, seals, and covers. This investment is cost-effective, potentially paying for itself within a year, with the agility of 3D printing being the key benefit, reducing lead times from weeks to hours and enabling rapid design iteration. DENSO, another Japanese automaker and a key Toyota Group company, is also heavily invested in additive manufacturing, forming dedicated teams, leveraging advanced machinery, setting ambitious goals for high-volume 3D printed auto parts, and strategically investing in external metal AM technologies like Seurat’s Area Printing. Furthermore, DENSO supports the advancement of additive manufacturing through educational grants to institutions like CSULB, fostering future talent and research. Together, these initiatives reflect Toyota Group’s commitment to continuous improvements and adaptation across different facets of its global operations to remain competitive.
