Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO) is creating a new company to manage its automation products and services. T-Hive B.V. will bundle software development for autonomous vehicles (AVs), and establish as a new centre of excellence.
T-Hive will combine the software products, partnerships and innovations from TICO’s main companies, Toyota L&F, Toyota Material Handling, Toyota Material Handling Europe, Raymond, Bastian and Vanderlande, and their respective brands.
The move is in response to increasing demand for AVs fuelled by the rapid growth of the e-commerce market, labour shortages, and the need for flexibility. T-Hive has been established to centrally coordinate all developments, leverage existing solutions for new market segments and accelerate innovations globally to support TICO’s customer-facing companies.
“Due to the increasing demand for software development in all industries, securing personnel is also becoming a global challenge. Our new company, T-Hive, will create opportunities for us to work together across the Toyota Industries Group network,” said Norio Wakabayashi, TICO executive officer.
The new company will operate from Ede in The Netherlands and will be led by Léon Jansen, who will be CEO and managing director.
The company’s main focus will be to provide a seamless control system encompassing all AVs within TICO, such as automated guided forklifts (AGFs), automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs).
“Modern software developers experience the fine balance between making great quality software and meeting delivery deadlines every day,” Jansen said.
“Our combined solution portfolio will be introduced at logistics sites around the world, enabling TICO’s customers to enjoy the seamless movement, storage and distribution of goods throughout their entire supply chains.”
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