Toyota recently announced that it is planning another expansion of its Southeast Michigan research and development campuses. This marks the third time in just over a year that Toyota has announced plans to increase employment and investment in Michigan. The announcement features a total investment of $126 million for the expansion of Toyota's powertrain operations at its Ann Arbor campus and the consolidation of vehicle development operations at a new facility on its York Township campus.
Both vehicle development and powertrain functions will become centralized in Michigan, increasing their scope, responsibility and decision-making ability while providing improved communication and access to the company's direct procurement division. Approximately 85 jobs will relocate to Michigan from California by the end of 2016 as a part of the move.
In late 2013, Toyota announced a $28-million expansion of its Ann Arbor operations, and earlier this year the company announced the addition of 250 direct procurement and supplier engineering development positions currently based in Erlanger, Kentucky.
"Centralizing our vehicle development and powertrain functions here in Michigan is beneficial for our decision-making process and allows us to better respond to changes in the marketplace while improving the speed at which we can offer technology advances to customers," said Ed Mantey, senior vice president at the Toyota Technical Center.
In April 2014, Toyota announced that it would establish new headquarters in North Dallas (Plano), Texas, for its North American operations as part of a series of moves designed to better serve customers and position the company for sustainable, long-term growth. This strategy includes establishing a new North American headquarters in Plano, Texas; expanding the Toyota Technical Center facilities in Southeast Michigan to accommodate increased investment in its engineering and product development capabilities; and opening a production engineering facility at Toyota's largest U.S. manufacturing plant in Georgetown, Kentucky. The new facilities are expected to be completed by 2017.
For more information, visit www.toyota.com.