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On February 15th, President & CEO Takashi Shimizu was awarded the "Gold Medal of Merit" by the Government of the Republic of Serbia.
 
The ceremony was held at the Presidential Palace, where President Aleksandar Vučić awarded the Medal of Merit and Ceretificate for Decoration in recognition of their "significant contributions and achievements to the Republic of Serbia in the area of economic development and the results arising from them."

Biography: Representative Director, President & CEO Takashi Shimizu

Background Information

In 2019, Toyo Tire Co.Ltd. decided to establish therir first European production base in the Republic of Serbia, and in 2020 began construction of a tire production factory on a vast piece of land in Indja City.

During the time of the coronavirus pandemic, the groundbreaking ceremony was held remotely between Serbia and Japan, but President Aleksandar Vučić was present at the construction site, to mark the creation of new jobs once the factory started operating. The message from this time was that we plan to build the foundation of a new industry.

In 2022, the building was completed and operations began in July, with an official opening ceremony held in December. At the ceremony, President Shimizu said, ``I am confident that we were able to complete and operate the new factory in this location due to the extraordinary passion of government officials for the country's economic development.'' In addition to speedily supplying highly attractive products and promoting local production for local consumption in the European region, we are fully functioning as a strategic supply base for the main American market, and have a high existence value."
 
President Aleksandar Vučić, who was in attendance, said, ``Today is a special day where a dream that I have held for five years with my Japanese friends came true.'' ``I am confident that the best tires made in Serbia will come from here.'' We hope that it will be shipped to the world, including North America and Western European markets.'' ``This factory is Toyo Tire’ss only greenfield investment in Europe, and its quality and equipment are among the best in the world. The President congratulated Toyo Tires investmnent in his message saying, ``It is our happiness and pride that the salary levels of our citizens are increasing.''

The Serbian factory is a smart factory using the latest technology to visualize processes and achieve optimal management by linking high-productivity equipment with high precision. The plant produces high-performance, competitive tires, responding to market insights, including the shift to EVs.
 
Adjacent to the factory building, a running test course has been constructed with a straight line distance of 720m and a lap of 1,690m, allowing speedy evaluations in compliance with legal regulations supporting the timely market launch of attractive products. The site has one of the largest solar power generation systems in the country installed with a power generation capacity of 8.4Mw, which will also help reduce CO2 emissions. While promoting local production for local consumption in Europe, the new facility will also supply the North America, as a major target.
 

In November 2023, Toyo Tire Holdings of Europe GmbH, Toyo Tire’s European headquarters, collaborated with the University of Novi Sad (President: Dejan Madic) for the purpose of research and development of sustainable raw materials, concluding an agreement for industry and academia collaboration. In the future, we will jointly pursue research results in the development of sustainable materials globally.