Niimi

"We are at ground zero in the sense that the things we make here go directly to the customers, so have a responsibility to get it right from the earliest stage of the manufacturing process," said Atsushi Niimi , executive vice president in charge of production engineering.

Toyota Makes New Push to Avoid Recalls Chester Dawson 2011

"Our initial best guess was that full production wouldn't be restored until autumn, meaning delayed output of 2 million vehicles," Toyota Executive Vice President Atsushi Niimi said recently.

Japan's June Auto Sales Sag, but Rebound on Track Yoshio Takahashi 2011

Mr. Niimi said Toyota can't make money exporting small cars from Japan with the dollar worth less than 80 yen.

For Toyota, Patriotism and Profits May Not Mix Chester Dawson 2011

Mr. Niimi came up with a way to hasten the installation of tires onto car wheel hubs by rounding off the edges of the hub center, making it conical instead of cylindrical.

For Toyota, Patriotism and Profits May Not Mix Chester Dawson 2011

Mr. Niimi and other top executives made the case in interviews for streamlining Toyota's domestic production lines, as opposed to uprooting them.

For Toyota, Patriotism and Profits May Not Mix Chester Dawson 2011

Abandoning Japan would be like "putting our head in a noose," said Atsushi Niimi , Toyota's executive vice president for manufacturing and a close confidant of Mr. Toyoda.

For Toyota, Patriotism and Profits May Not Mix Chester Dawson 2011

"High speed and high volume output may no longer be such a good fit for us," said Mr. Niimi, who has a degree in aeronautical engineering.

For Toyota, Patriotism and Profits May Not Mix Chester Dawson 2011

"We need to be aware of hollowing out in Japan and the impact it would have," said Mr. Niimi.

For Toyota, Patriotism and Profits May Not Mix Chester Dawson 2011

"We will be tremendously competitive once the yen comes back to a more balanced level as a result of our production technology innovation," said Mr. Niimi, who sports a mustache grown while working in the U.S.

For Toyota, Patriotism and Profits May Not Mix Chester Dawson 2011

"It's all about our black-box" know-how to make high quality vehicles, said Mr. Niimi, known around the company as "kata-yabure" or a rule breaker.

For Toyota, Patriotism and Profits May Not Mix Chester Dawson 2011