TITLE: Vice President of Manufacturing
COMPANY: Toyota Turkey
BASED: Sakarya, Turkey
AGE: 57
NATIONALITY: Turkish

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Aydin took over as vice president of manufacturing at Toyota’s factory in Sakarya, Turkey, this year. Before that, he spent two years as a member of the plant’s executive committee in charge of product management. Since starting his automotive career with Toyota in 1992, Aydin has held posts ranging from general manager of product engineering to general manager of paint, plastics and assembly at the automaker’s locations in Japan, France and its European headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Aydın has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Istanbul Technical University and a master’s degree in the same disciple from the University of Michigan.

REASON FOR WINNING

Under Aydin’s leadership, Toyota’s Sakarya factory was named Europe’s best plant, earning a gold award from J.D. Power in its 2020 Initial Quality Study. Sakarya, which assembles the CH-R crossover and Corolla sedan, had just 24 defects per 100 models produced. The C-HR was the first hybrid vehicle assembled in Turkey when it went into production in 2016. Since then the compact crossover has become a key part of the automaker’s European lineup, ranking as its No. 3-selling model in the region after the Yaris small car and the Corolla compact hatchback.