Toyota Motor North America has made several changes to its supply chain and manufacturing leadership structure, effective July 13. Changes include expanded responsibilities for Group VP of Supply Chain Kevin Austin and Group VP of Vehicle Supply Chain Kensuke Morita, according to a June 19 press release.
Austin will be responsible for quality while continuing to lead network strategy and operations, per the release. He will report to Chris Nielsen, EVP of supply chain, and chief quality and supply chain officer.
Morita will take on tech transformation, demand and supply management, along with strategy and project planning and management. Morita will continue to report to Austin.
Within Toyota's manufacturing operations, executive changes included the responsibilities of Stephen Brennan, SVP of Region 1 manufacturing operations and manufacturing business operations; and Susann Kazunas, group VP and executive engineering officer, the release said.
Brennan has been assigned to Toyota Motor Corp. as chief production leader of the advanced technology area. He will be responsible for the Advanced Production Engineering Division, the Mobility Tooling Division and the Logistics and Information Production Engineering Division, to name a few. Brennan will report to Takefumi Shiga, Toyota Motor Corp. operating officer, chief production officer and production engineering group chief officer.
Kazunas will become group VP of manufacturing business operations and production engineering, while retaining her current responsibilities and an additional role as executive safety officer. Kazunas will continue to report to Masahiro Seri, SVP and chief production officer for production engineering and manufacturing.
Toyota Motor North America also adjusted leadership roles in several of its manufacturing regions, including Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas and the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, according to the release.
