TOTO opens manufacturing facility in India

TOTO has officially begun operations at its new 645,834-sq.-ft. factory in Gujarat, India, the company's first South Asian plant.

The move comes ahead of the company's centenary in 2017, as well as a corporate vision plan to focus its resources on its international housing products business.

The new facility sits on a 44-acre lot and is set to produce 500,000 toilets a year to serve the burgeoning Indian market, as well as the company's subsidiaries in Europe and the Middle East.

The plant's ribbon-cutting ceremony guest list included Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister of the State of Gujarat; Takashi Yamauchi, EVP of Mitsui & Co., Ltd.; Madoka Kitamura, president and representative director of the TOTO Global Group; and Kazuo Watanabe, president of TOTO Asia Oceania, Ltd.

Kitamura noted that the company is committed "to developing our business in partnership with the local community, so that we can establish roots here in Gujarat and earn the affection of people throughout India, now and in the future...I hope that everyone in India will come to know and love TOTO products, and continue to use them as a hygienic part of their everyday lives for many years to come."

The facility, dubbed TOTO India Industries, Ltd., will hire 500 local employees.