The announcement by Toyota Industries Corporation to reorganise its warehouse automation activities under the Toyota Automated Logistics banner is a significant development for the global intralogistics industry.
For customers in Australia and New Zealand, it signals something very positive: a stronger, more integrated organisation with a broader capability set and the backing of one of the world’s most respected industrial brands.
As communicated, this new structure is expected to come into effect from 1 April 2026, marking the start of the next chapter in the evolution of Toyota Industries’ global warehouse automation activities.
For many years, the Toyota Industries Group has built its warehouse automation capabilities through leading companies such as Vanderlande, viastore, and Bastian Solutions. Each of these organisations has developed deep expertise in different segments of automation, from large scale distribution centre systems to high density storage and flexible robotic solutions.
The next step is bringing these strengths together more tightly under the Toyota Automated Logistics structure.
For customers in Australia, this means access to a much wider solution portfolio than ever before. Historically, companies like Vanderlande have been known for large and complex automation systems such as high throughput sortation, goods to person solutions, and large scale distribution centre automation. With closer collaboration across the Toyota automation companies, customers will benefit from an expanded toolbox that includes shuttle systems, ASRS technologies, robotics, software, and material handling solutions across a broader range of project sizes.
In practical terms, this allows us to design solutions that are even better tailored to each operation. Whether the requirement is a high throughput e commerce fulfilment centre, a dense pallet storage solution, or a phased automation journey starting with smaller subsystems, we will be able to draw on a much wider set of technologies and expertise.
Another important element is the strength of the Toyota name behind this organisation. Toyota is globally recognised for quality, reliability, and continuous improvement through principles such as the Toyota Production System. Bringing warehouse automation under the Toyota Automated Logistics structure reinforces those values and gives customers additional confidence that they are investing in solutions backed by long term industrial stability and global scale.
For customers in Australia and New Zealand, where supply chains are often geographically dispersed and labour availability can be challenging, this evolution also strengthens local support. By leveraging global expertise, engineering resources, and proven reference systems from across the Toyota automation businesses, we can deliver solutions that are both innovative and highly reliable in real operational environments.
“I am genuinely excited about what this means for our region,” says Roald de Groot from Vanderlande. The combination of the entrepreneurial engineering culture of companies like Vanderlande with the global strength and philosophy of Toyota creates a powerful platform for the future of warehouse automation. For our customers, the message is simple: more capability, more innovation, and the same commitment to delivering reliable automation solutions, now backed even more strongly by the Toyota ecosystem.”
