Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc. said today it is investing $150 million to boost machining capacity and the production of V-6 engine parts at its Alabama engine plant.
“Toyota Alabama continues to play a key role in our efforts to build engines in the region for our loyal customers,” said Jim Bolte, president of Toyota Alabama. “This vote of confidence gives our team members and community partners added motivation as we move towards our vision of becoming the most admired company in the state.”
The expansion of the Huntsville engine plant involves 125 new jobs, which were previously announced. Governor Robert Bentley and Alabama Department of Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield joined company, state, and local officials in May 2012 to announce the expansion and new jobs.
Alabama’s workforce training program, AIDT, a program of the Department of Commerce, is providing pre-employment training for the project.
At the May 2012 announcement, Canfield said Toyota is “a perfect example of what a trained, highly motivated workforce and strong international partnerships can achieve in Alabama.”
Toyota’s total investment in Alabama will be $850 million once the machining project is complete by July 2015. Toyota will hire approximately 125 people upon completion of its current $80 million V6 engine assembly expansion by early 2014; its total employment in Huntsville will be 1,150.
Annual engine capacity at the Alabama plant will be nearly 750,000 units. Toyota Alabama currently assembles 4-cylinder, V6 and V8 engines for eight of 12 Toyota vehicles assembled in North America. It is the only Toyota plant globally to produce these three types of engines under one roof.
The Alabama investment represents the company’s ninth manufacturing investment in North America over the past two years. This investment totals more than $2 billion The result of this new investment is more than 4,000 new jobs, solidifying Toyota’s commitment to designing, developing and assembling vehicles in the region.
The automaker also announced today that Bodine Aluminum, wholly-owned by Toyota Motor Corp. and a manufacturer of casting parts, will invest $50 million and create a total of 40 new jobs at its plant in Troy, Mo., and 10 new jobs at its plant in Jackson, Tenn., to provide cylinder heads and blocks to Toyota Alabama.
The Toyota Alabama facility was the first truck engine plant for Toyota outside Japan, building V8 engines since 2003.
State Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville, called Toyota’s latest investment an endorsement of Alabama’s workforce, according to a report on the al.com website. ”Toyota has been dedicated to the Huntsville community and we are extremely grateful for the positive impact they have had on our community and the state as a whole,” he said in a prepared statement quoted by the publication.