As managing editor of The biggest headline in the manufacturing world today is Toyota Motor Co.'s announcement that it will build its eighth North American vehicle assembly plant on a 1,700-acre site in Blue Springs, Miss., near Tupelo.
The plant will employ 2,000, and will build the Highlander sport utility vehicle. According to the company's news release, the plant will have capacity to make 150,000 vehicles annually, and will start production in 2010. Plastics molding will be part of the operations.
Tupelo will join these Toyota plants in North America:
- Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky Inc. in Georgetown, Ky., which produces the Avalon, Camry, Camry Hybrid, and Camry Solara.
- Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc. in Cambridge, Ontario, which produces the Corolla, Matrix and Lexus RX 350.
- Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana Inc. in Princeton, Ind., which produces the Tundra, Sequoia, and Sienna.
- New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI), a joint venture with General Motors in Fremont, Calif., that produces the Corolla and Tacoma and Pontiac Vibe.
- Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Baja California in Tijuana, Mexico, which produces the Tacoma and Tacoma truck beds.
- Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas Inc. in San Antonio, Texas, which produces the Tundra.
- And, beginning in 2008, a new plant in Woodstock, Ontario that will produce the RAV4.