The era of sakichi-toyoda's loom innovations and kiichiro-toyoda's automotive ambitions. Sakichi's automatic loom embodied jidoka before the word existed. His son Kiichiro studied engineering, visited American automakers, and envisioned just-in-time production. The sale of loom patents to Platt Brothers (1929) funded the automotive venture. toyoda-automatic-loom-works established the engineering culture — practical, gemba-oriented, improvement-driven — that would become TPS's foundation. Toyota Motor Company was established as a division in 1933, independent company in 1937.