Subaru opens new Canadian office

Subaru opens new Canadian office

Photos and text by Bill Roebuck

Subaru executives and local dignitaries officially opened the brand new Canadian corporate headquarters of Subaru Canada Inc. on June 28, 2005. The facility, near Mavis Rd. and Hwy 401 in Mississauga, Ont., has more than 13,000 sq m (141,453 sq ft.) of space, well over twice as much as the previous headquarters, located just a few blocks away.

Ikuo Mori, corporate senior vice-president and chief general manager for Subaru Overseas Marketing Division; noted that Canada is Subaru's fourth largest market in the world and that the company sold about 16,000 vehicles here in 2004.

Norio Osakabe, president, chairman and CEO of Subaru Canada, said the new facility would enhance employee satisfaction and productivity. He anticipated that the company would reach more than 25,000 new vehicle sales by 2010.

Attending the festivities were Hisao Yamaguchi, Consul General for Japan in Toronto; Vic Dhillon, MPP Brampton West and Mississauga; Hide Toshi Kobayashi, executive vice-resident of Subaru of America; Carlo Fidani, chairman, Orlando Corp.; and Eve Adams, Mississauga City Councillor, Ward 5.

The new building includes two floors of offices, expanded classroom and technical training facilities, and a state-of-the-art warehouse.

“Beautiful as well as functional, safe and comfortable, Subaru's new Canadian headquarters reflects all the best qualities of Subaru as a company,” said Osakabe.

The centrepiece of the new warehouse facility is a Remstar Horizontal Carousel System designed to take advantage of the 30-ft ceilings in the new building. Remstar's computerized Horizontal Carousels use a system of shelves, suspended from an iron guide track, that horizontally rotate at the command of the operator.

Instead of a stock picker moving to individual bins where parts are stored, the Carousel spins the shelving and brings the part to the operator in a batched order format. The new system significantly enhances productivity.

The Carousel unit contains 11,000 part numbers, and an operator is now able to pick approximately 225 lines per hour, compared to an average of 65-80 lines per hour from conventional shelving.

Inventory control and order processing are all conducted using the latest Radio Frequency and barcode technology, and the facility is ISO 14001 approved.

Subaru Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan. The company markets and distributes Subaru vehicles, parts and accessories through a network of 98 authorized dealers across Canada.