In this Feb. 25, 2011 photo, a worker at Toyota's Putnam County plant works on the transmission assembly line. Toyota announced Thursday that it will add 80 jobs to the Buffalo operation by July 2013.
Toyota will increase production at the company's plant in Putnam County and create 80 jobs, according to the general manager of Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Toyota will increase production at the company's plant in Putnam County and create 80 jobs, according to the general manager of Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia.
"This shows Toyota Japan believes in us and our team members," Mike Lutz said.
An investment of about $45 million will allow the company, which builds six-speed transmissions for the Avalon, Camry, Lexus RX350, Sienna and Venza, to increase production capacity from about 400,000 to 520,000 beginning in November, according to a news release.
The expansion, which will be done in two phases, Lutz said, is expected to be completed by July 2013 and will raise employment at the Toyota plant in Buffalo to 1,200 and its total investment to $1.3 billion.
Last year, the Buffalo plant celebrated its 15th anniversary. Thursday's announcement marks the seventh time the plant has expanded since it opened, according to the company.
"What we'll be doing in two phases is increasing the capacity of the line that we announced last year," Lutz said. "Last year we added the machinery and this year we'll increase the capacity."
Eventually, he said, the expansion will allow the plant to produce 10,000 more transmissions per month.
The Buffalo plant is still investigating whether the 80 positions will be permanent or temporary, Lutz said.
The company doesn't hire part-time workers, he said, but that could change.
"We don't use part-time folks now, but in the future that's something we might do," he said. "We have a certain amount of jobs we try to keep flexibility with, whether these will be permanent or not, we'll take the next six months to a year [to decide]."
Lutz said hiring will happen over time, and that an announcement would be made closer to the November production expansion date about when interested employees should apply.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., first met with the chairman of Toyota in Japan in 1986. Ten years later, Toyota announced it would locate a $400 million engine plant in Buffalo with 350 jobs.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Toyota will increase production at the company's plant in Putnam County and create 80 jobs, according to the general manager of Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia.
"This shows Toyota Japan believes in us and our team members," Mike Lutz said.
An investment of about $45 million will allow the company, which builds six-speed transmissions for the Avalon, Camry, Lexus RX350, Sienna and Venza, to increase production capacity from about 400,000 to 520,000 beginning in November, according to a news release.
The expansion, which will be done in two phases, Lutz said, is expected to be completed by July 2013 and will raise employment at the Toyota plant in Buffalo to 1,200 and its total investment to $1.3 billion.
Last year, the Buffalo plant celebrated its 15th anniversary. Thursday's announcement marks the seventh time the plant has expanded since it opened, according to the company.
"What we'll be doing in two phases is increasing the capacity of the line that we announced last year," Lutz said. "Last year we added the machinery and this year we'll increase the capacity."
Eventually, he said, the expansion will allow the plant to produce 10,000 more transmissions per month.
The Buffalo plant is still investigating whether the 80 positions will be permanent or temporary, Lutz said.
The company doesn't hire part-time workers, he said, but that could change.
"We don't use part-time folks now, but in the future that's something we might do," he said. "We have a certain amount of jobs we try to keep flexibility with, whether these will be permanent or not, we'll take the next six months to a year [to decide]."
Lutz said hiring will happen over time, and that an announcement would be made closer to the November production expansion date about when interested employees should apply.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., first met with the chairman of Toyota in Japan in 1986. Ten years later, Toyota announced it would locate a $400 million engine plant in Buffalo with 350 jobs.
In a news release, Rockefeller said the Toyota plant is "the largest industrial investment in the state in the last 50 years."
"Now employing almost 1,200 workers from over twenty counties around the state, Toyota has continued to show its commitment to growth," Rockefeller said in the release. "I'm proud to have helped bring the company here more than 15 years ago, but really we should all thank the workers at Toyota - they are the reason that the company continues to expand, and it's their dedication and hard work that makes such growth possible."
Other state politicians, including Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin; Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; and Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., all lauded the expansion.
Lutz also said the expansion is a testament to the company's team members.
"Two or three years ago when the economy collapsed, we kept people working ... I said 'hey listen, let's go and improve things and make business stronger so when we come out of this we'll be able to grow,'" he said. "Even through a difficult period we stayed on task."
Bodine Aluminum, a Missouri company that provides transmission cases and housing parts to the Buffalo plant, will also add about 25 new jobs and more than $10 million in investment in their plant as a result of the expansion.
Putnam County Development Authority Director Gary Walton said whenever Toyota West Virginia increases production, other companies in the county benefit.
"Toyota Tsusho in Eleanor is part-owned by Toyota and provides parts for equipment at the plant," Walton said. "Toyota's scrap metal is brought to Eleanor to Green Metals and they collect, separate and ship it out via rail to, as I understand it, Bodine, who melts it down."
Walton also noted that while Diamond Electric and Nippon Thermostat, both Japanese owned companies in Putnam, might not directly benefit in an increase in transmission production, because they create other parts for cars, "it means there are more automobiles being produced and that does in fact create a trickle down effect resulting in additional business, hopefully, for those other companies as well.
"Toyota is like all other Japanese companies who were impacted by the earthquake and tsunami which will have been one-year ago in two weeks," Walton said. "For them to turn around this soon, less than a year since they last announced an expansion and spend another $45 million and create another 80 jobs is darn good."
Reach Kate White at kate.wh...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1723.
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