The legendary Komatsu 700-ton press, which crossed the ocean to work in Brazil for over 60 years, came home in June 2024.
To celebrate the completion of this momentous project, Toyota held a ceremony in May at the Honsha Plant (Toyota City, Aichi) around the press. People with deep connections to the press, from Toyota and beyond, gathered for a roundtable discussion.
The press was commissioned by Kiichiro Toyoda, Toyota’s founder, and was created over 90 years ago, in 1934. It began supporting production three years before Toyota was established, back when it was still the Automotive Department of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works.
Even Oyaji Kawai, who has been with the company for sixty years, expressed his respect, saying, “It is a living witness to the entire history of Toyota.”
It was manufactured by Komatsu, now a multinational general machinery manufacturer. Komatsu had been founded just over a decade earlier, in 1921, and was what we might now call a venture company. Even so, it took on the great challenge of producing manufacturing machinery domestically.
In 1938, Toyota moved automobile production from its prototype plant in Kariya-cho, Aichi (now Kariya City), to Koromo Plant (present-day Honsha Plant). San-ei, a company specializing in construction, logistics, and heavy machinery installation, was responsible for relocating the press. Stories remain of how they used an oxcart to transport the press over a distance of 15 km as the crow flies.
In 1962, the press crossed the ocean to manufacture car parts at Toyota’s first overseas plant, the San Bernardo Plant in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It remained in operation there until 2023.
When that plant closed, Chairman Akio Toyoda was asked what to do with the historic press, and his reply was a simple phrase: “functional preservation.”* He explained that his intention was to preserve it “not as an object, but as a working colleague.”
*To preserve it in a state where it can still operate
This is how the homecoming project began. The mission of project members was to fully restore the press to like-new condition. Since archive photos were in black and white, the original color could not be determined accurately, so a team of color professionals carefully removed paint from the press to identify it during the restoration.
The press is now home, actively manufacturing parts for fuel cell modules.
Chairman Toyoda reflected on the history of taking on grand challenges, saying, “I think it was an amazing decision based on a readiness that can’t be expressed simply with the word ‘challenge’ alone. Standing before this press, it’s clear they not only wanted to make cars but also to build an auto industry in Japan.” He added, “I feel an aura from it, like a true witness trying to tell us its story.”
What pledge did Chairman Toyoda and his employees make before the press, a machine that has witnessed Toyota’s entire history? See for yourself in this week’s video.