Toyota picks Ryder as logistics manager for new Texas plant

Toyota picks Ryder as logistics manager for new Texas plant    Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America Inc. has contracted with Ryder System Inc. to be Toyota's lead logistics provider for a new auto assembly plant in San Antonio, Texas.
   Ryder, a Miami-based transportation and supply chain management services provider, will handle logistics operations between the new plant, its suppliers, and other Toyota facilities. Using a fleet of 270 vehicles and 180 drivers, Ryder will also provide pickup and transport of parts from five states, as well as all deliveries to the San Antonio plant.
   Ryder was Toyota's first North American logistics provider, picked in 1987 to manage a facility in Georgetown, Ky. In 2006, Ryder provides logistics services for Toyota at locations in Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee, California and West Virginia, and in Canada, Mexico and Argentina.
   Toyota's new plant in San Antonio, where production will begin late in 2006, has the capacity to produce 200,000 Tundra pickup trucks.