T-Hive

T-Hive, a unit of Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO) in Ede, the Netherlands, establised in April 2021, bears a fitting name for its bustling and collaborative nature. Functioning like a busy beehive, T-Hive brings together technology and software developers from across the globe to seamlessly integrate control systems into TICO's autonomous vehicles, including automated guided forklifts, automated guided vehicles, and autonomous mobile robots. Oost NL assisted the company along the way. 

As an amalgamation of software products, partnerships, and innovations from TICO's prominent brands like Toyota L&F, Toyota Material Handling (USA), Toyota Material Handling Europe, Raymond, Bastian, and Vanderlande, T-Hive aims to centralize development efforts, leverage existing solutions for new market segments, and drive global innovation to support TICO's customer-facing companies. 

“Material handling is often different in different segments and different parts of the world,” explained Leon Jansen, managing director and CEO of T-Hive. “Technology may be different, but the challenges are similar… how to optimize performance, how to achieve good human-machine interaction, how to minimize training and startup time. Those are some of the challenges that our software product development is aimed at solving.” 

T-Hive finds Netherlands as optimal location for development 

TICO had initiated collaborations in the past to address these issues, but a crucial element was a business entity driving the collaboration so there was more alignment and more cross-pollination, according to Mr. Jansen. “The effort had to be fast, agile and innovative, and we thought the Netherlands was the perfect middle ground to set up T-Hive,” he recalled. “We wanted a mindset between overly cautious and moving too quickly. Dutch people are very open-minded for innovation.” 

The Japan office of the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA) originally approached TICO to ask how it could help with the new entity. In addition to providing advice about how to set up the company in Ede, NFIA also helped “kickstart our development” with support for innovative companies like T-Hive. In addition, the company tapped into a R&D governmental subsidy with a consortium of KLM, TNO and University of Amsterdam to advance autonomous driving in airport baggage handling areas. 

One of NFIA’s Invest in Holland Network partners, the East Netherlands Development Agency (Oost NL), also provided critical assistance in the early days. “We were looking for a software developer who could speak both Japanese and English,” recalled Mr. Jansen. “Oost NL connected us to someone who was deeply embedded in the Japanese culture in the Netherlands, and we were able to even hire 2 skilled engineers. We were grateful for their help.” 

Oost NL also introduced T-Hive to universities in Twente that are studying how to embed artificial intelligence (AI) in AVs. “This could provide an opportunity for training for our employees in the future,” Mr. Jansen observed. 

Western Europe: Gateway to global connectivity for T-Hive 

While T-Hive operates as a fully virtual entity, connecting top software developers worldwide, the strategic location of the Netherlands in Western Europe also plays a vital role in serving its global customer base. According to T-Hive's CEO, the presence of Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam offers convenient access to various parts of Asia, Europe, the United States, and even South America. 

On the other hand, the Netherlands also serves as a convenient gathering place for T-Hive's employees from around the world to attend regular meetings. For instance, they recently organized an employee planning event in Utrecht, where most participants flew into Schiphol and easily reached the meeting venue within a 30-minute train ride.  

With a workforce of approximately 35 individuals globally, T-Hive locates around 30% of its employees in the Netherlands. Mr. Jansen highlights that the Netherlands being the headquarters has attracted talents who desire to live there. Thanks to the cloud-based nature of their work, the company has individuals from Taiwan and Australia residing in Brainport Eindhoven, a city known for its international community and proximity to Vanderlande, where they frequently collaborate. Additionally, T-Hive has a Vietnamese developer based in The Hague. 

Mr. Jansen further explains that employees in the Netherlands, regardless of their origin, greatly enjoy living there, appreciating the local culture and the extensive network of bicycle paths. He emphasizes that Dutch people are proficient in English and exhibit a friendly and welcoming attitude towards individuals from all over the world.  

The Netherlands actively pursues ambitious sustainability goals and encourages investment and collaboration from companies like T-Hive to expedite the advancement of automated driving technologies within the country's automotive ecosystem. With expertise in transportation, renewable energy and artificial intelligence (AI), the Netherlands stands at the forefront of innovation, developing intelligent and sustainable solutions for the future.  

January 2023

Source: Invest in Holland