Toyota said on March 30 it will reshape its global operations as part of efforts to “regain consumer confidence” after its mass safety recall crisis. Stepping away from a traditional reluctance to involve foreigners in its highest decision-making bodies, it has included seven non-Japanese executives in a new team charged with “radically” improving global operations.

The committee, which will investigate defects that necessitate recalls and quality control issues, held its inaugural meeting on March 30, company president Akio Toyoda said at a press conference at the Toyota City headquarters.

Its focus will be on speeding up the recall decision-making process, boosting transparency and “listening carefully to the voice of the customer as a crucial key to regaining customer confidence,” he said.

He added that the firm would also enlist “third-party experts” in each region, including business leaders, academics, consumer group representatives, scientists and engineers. Their findings will be released in June.

Heavily criticized for being slow to react to initial reports of problems, Toyota was encumbered by the fact that “decisions on recalls can only be made at the headquarters in Japan,” said Mamoru Kato, senior analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Center. “The committee on quality now has foreign members. This should help the company learn accurate information from customers and ground personnel and make decisions swiftly.”

Among other measures, Toyota said it will incorporate globally a “brake override” safety system from this year onwards that reduces engine power to prevent runaway car accidents.

In North America it will expand the use of event data recorders (EDRs), which can record information regarding vehicle condition and driver operation. It will also increase information-sharing between regions, boost onsite inspections and promote safer driving.

In an effort to demonstrate its new quest for transparency, Toyota gave journalists a tour of its testing facility where cars were put through their paces in simulated weather and road conditions and tested for defects.

Such an effort represents “a major change from the past,” said Kato. “It is unthinkable if you consider how things were years ago”.

Kato added that the recall crisis “might have served as a good opportunity for Toyota to become truly a global company in a speedy manner.” Auto Parts

Siemens unveiled a broad restructuring of its SIS information technology division that includes the elimination of 4,200 jobs worldwide.

Around 2,000 of the cuts would come in Germany, where some 9,700 of the division’s staff are employed, according to the business daily Handelsblatt.

Siemens said it would simplify its Solutions and Services (SIS) division and establish two poles of activity — business information technology solutions and IT outsourcing.

More than 500 million euros ($US680 million) would be invested in the unit by 2012 in what Siemens called a “market-oriented organization based on two business units with sharp customer focus.” The SIS division previously comprised seven units, the group said.

It aimed to “build on the specific industry and software know-how of the Siemens sectors, which are world-leaders,” finance director Joe Kaeser said.

Siemens said in December it would revamp the labor-intensive IT division to make it more flexible and market-oriented. The unit is to be given “all the conditions necessary for a stand-alone operating business by the start of the new fiscal year on October 1, 2010″ which suggests it could be spun off at some point.

SIS sales have fallen for several years and analysts say its technical staff is better paid than at rivals such as IBM, Hewlett Packard and Accenture.

Overall, Siemens has spent 500 million euros ($US690 million) to restructure its various divisions and has eliminated 23,000 jobs. At the end of last year, its workforce totaled 405,000 worldwide.

The group’s vast operations extend from the manufacture of light bulbs and washing machines to medical imaging equipment, wind turbines, nuclear reactors and high-speed trains.

The United States and India launched a new blitz to boost economic, trade and financial cooperation on March 17. They signed a framework for cooperation on trade and investment to build on trade growth, which has more than doubled in the last five years.

“There is almost limitless potential for growth in trade between our two countries, and that can contribute to economic recovery and job creation in the United States and continued economic growth in India,” said Ron Kirk, the top U.S. trade official.

“We can realize that potential by working together toward the goals set forth in the framework agreement,” by encourage technological innovation, increasing agriculture, services, and industrial goods and boosting investment flows, he said.

Kirk, the U.S. Trade Representative, inked the trade and investment pact with Indian minister of commerce and industry Anand Sharma.

The “numerous synergies linking the economies have not been tapped fully as yet, he said, adding that the pact could “create the right environment to ensure that the relationship brings maximum benefit to the maximum number of people.”

The development and deployment of clean energy and environmental technologies would also be encouraged under the agreement to support India’s infrastructure growth, Sharma said.

U.S. goods and services trade with India totaled $66 billion in 2008. India was the 17th largest goods export market for the U.S. in the same year.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will travel to India on April 6-7 to launch the U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership in New Delhi with Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The partnership was first announced in November when President Barack Obama hosted Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the first state visit since he entered the White House in January.

The United States already has a standing dialogue with fellow emerging Asian giant China. Officials said that unlike the dialogue with China, which is multi-ministerial, the forum with India was focused purely on economic and financial regulatory policy, led by the U.S. Treasury and the Indian finance ministry.

Prices charged by Chinese manufacturers rose at the most marked rate since July 2008 mainly due to rising raw material costs. As improved economic conditions encouraged spending, the HSBC China Manufacturing PMI, or purchasing managers’ index, rose to 57.4 last month from 56.1 in December, the highest since data were first collected in April 2004, the survey showed.

A reading above 50 means the sector is expanding, while a reading below 50 indicates an overall decline.

“Industrial activity continues to accelerate, implying stronger GDP (gross domestic products) growth in the first quarter,” Qu Hongbin, chief economist for China at HSBC, said.

“But rising input and output prices also point to greater inflationary pressure, which will likely prompt more tightening measures in the coming months,” he said.

The HSBC survey showed that new orders, supported by firmer market demand, rose at the fastest rate last month since the start of the survey while export sales also increased at a near-record rate.

Prices charged by Chinese manufacturers rose at the most marked rate since July 2008 mainly due to rising raw material costs, HSBC said.

A separate official PMI published by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing on Feb. 1 showed manufacturing activity expanded for the 11th consecutive month to 55.8 in January, slightly slower than 56.6 in December.

The world’s third largest economy grew 8.7% last year and 10.7% in the fourth quarter, underpinned to a large extent by a $586 billion government stimulus package unveiled in November 2008.

Several manufacturers are providing more than monetary donations to help the Haiti earthquake relief efforts. Health-care products, generators and solar lights are among the many items pouring in from manufacturers to the ravaged nation.

Ecolab Inc. will try to assist with sanitation concerns in Haiti by contributing more than $500,000 in product donations and an employee matching gift program, the company said Jan. 18.

“Ecolab’s cleaning and sanitizing products, including waterless hand sanitizers and surface sanitizers, are critical during disasters such as this,” said Douglas Baker Ecolab’s president and CEO. “The extraordinary impact of the earthquake’s devastation is a reminder of our common humanity. Ecolab, along with our global associates, is pleased to be able to send our products and dollars to provide assistance to the people of Haiti.”

On the same day, pharmaceutical manufacturer Abbott Laboratories said it would provide $2.5 million in grant funding and donations of critical pharmaceutical and nutritional products to humanitarian aid organizations.

Some Abbott pharmaceutical and nutritional products already are in use throughout Haiti because of the company’s prior work with humanitarian organization Direct Relief International to prepare for natural disasters. These items include antibiotics, rehydration solutions and nutritional products that are in critical need following the earthquake in Haiti.

Honda will donate more than $300,000 to the Red Cross, as well as portable generators, water pumps, and other company products for use during humanitarian relief and recovery efforts in Haiti.

Solar lighting manufacturer Sol Inc. is working with government agencies to transport solar lights from Florida to Haiti, the company said Jan. 15. The total donation is expected to reach more than $400,000 with assistance from suppliers.

The company has also dispatched a 44-foot catamaran donated by a Florida entrepreneur Deane Blazie to provide ground support and logistics in Haiti.