Toyota North America adjusts supply chain, manufacturing leadership
Changes include expanded roles for Group VP of Supply Chain Kevin Austin and Group VP of Vehicle Supply Chain Kensuke Morita.
Source Lens
Industry Context
Useful background context, but lower-priority than direct platform, community, or operator intelligence.
Impact Level
medium
Use this briefing to decide whether your team needs an immediate workflow, policy, or reporting change.
Key Stat / Trigger
No single quantitative trigger surfaced in this report.
Focus on the operational implication, not just the headline.
Full Coverage
An article from Toyota North America adjusts supply chain, manufacturing leadership Changes include expanded roles for Group VP of Supply Chain Kevin Austin and Group VP of Vehicle Supply Chain Kensuke Morita.
Published June 29, 2026 Antone Gonsalves Reporter Share Copy link Email / Print License Add us on Google Toyota Motor North America headquarters in Plano, Texas. The car and truck maker has made executive changes in several manufacturing regions, including Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas and the state of Guanajuato, Mexico.
Courtesy of Toyota Motor North America Listen to the article 2 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. 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.
Recommended Reading Toyota invests another $1B in its US manufacturing operations By Bengt Halvorson • March 24, 2026 Add us on Google Share Copy link Email / Print License Filed Under: Operations Management, Manufacturing
Original Source
This briefing is based on reporting from Supply Chain Dive. Use the original post for full primary-source context.
Style
Audience