MIYOSHI PLANT MAKES TEST RUNS OF ANTI-POLLUTION EQUIPMENT

Eiji Toyoda, President of Toyota Motor Company, announced at the start of the year a policy of development of cars within this year that would comply with restrictions to be enforced in 1975.
To achieve this goal, the company is considering to constructing a special facility for producing catalyst equipment, developing a suitable technical research system, and further strengthening the Higashifuji Technical Center.

The expansion of the Miyoshi Plant is one of the project's primary measures, and this is now being carried out.

The enlarged plant is designed to manufacture on a trial basis such auto emission control devices as catalyst converters, EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculating) units, etc.

The new facility will become operative as early as the coming summer, because development of cars incorporating anti-pollution systems cannot be delayed.

As construction work is going ahead rapidly, the Special Component Parts Department was organized on February 1,at the Miyoshi Plant. This will assure that catalyst converters and EGR units can be smoothly manufactured on a commercial basis.

The restrictions on auto exhaust gas emissions, which are scheduled to be enforced in 1975 and 1976, arc listed in proposals made by the Central Pollution Council and those found in the "Muskie regulations" applicable in the United States. Toyota's measures to comply with these regulations include improvements in reciprocating engines and the incorporation into these of catalyst converters, EGR units, and other purifying equipment.

Toyota has simultaneously been exerting its utmost efforts to manufacture safer cars incorporating anti-pollution features, aiming at "Creating an Affluent Society Through Automobiles."

To accomplish this, the research and development budget was expanded by 19 times and personnel assigned to study anti-pollution and safety measures were increased by 8 times last year in comparison with similar figures for 1966, when restrictions on automotive emissions were first proposed.

Because of the great responsibility an enterprise has for promoting social welfare, the Toyota group has been trying hard to resolve all major problems and to pursue every possible line of research. It has not only been tackling technological development work in this line on a collective basis, but, to speed solutions, has been collaborating on technological matters with other Japanese and foreign enterprises.