Toyota's North American Production Support Center (NAPSC), a regional training facility located in Georgetown, Ky., has been awarded a Silver Level Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building rating system.
Expansion and refurbishment of the NAPSC's 98,000-square-foot facility followed the guidelines of the USGBC to ensure that the building met environmental standards for site development, material selection, water savings, energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality.
"The Silver Level Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council demonstrates Toyota's commitment to environmental excellence," said Caren Caton, assistant general manager of the NAPSC. "The center serves as a working model of environmental innovation. It is important that our operations reflect the company's values on being environmentally sensitive."
Some of the keys to earning a Silver certification include:
• The building is 100 percent powered by clean, renewable, wind-generated electricity. The purchase of 1,320,000 kWh of "green power" for this facility prevents 1,837,440 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This has the environmental equivalent of planting 251 acres of trees.
• Reduction of potable water use by 80 percent through the installation of ultra low-flow urinals, water closets and faucets, and by replacing municipal water with on-site rain water for sanitary sewer and landscape irrigation.
• Greater than 25 percent of the total building materials content, by value, has been manufactured using recycled materials and greater than 56 percent of the total building materials, by cost, have been manufactured within 500 miles of the facility.
Toyota teamed up with Gray Construction for the design and construction of the expansion in accordance with LEED Certification guidelines. Gray Construction is a nationally ranked engineering and construction firm headquartered in Lexington, Ky.
As Toyota continues to expand its manufacturing presence in North America, the NAPSC will play an important role in maintaining and deploying global and regional standards for manufacturing training that contribute to safety, quality, and efficiency in the workplace.
Programs offered at the NAPSC include: production, maintenance, supervisor and management systems training in classroom, hands-on and shop-floor simulations formats to teach fundamentals of doing, observing and coaching. The primary audience is trainers and supervisors from all Toyota plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The NAPSC employs 20 team members, including eight full-time regional trainers selected due to their manufacturing skill, experience and coaching capability.
Toyota established operations in North America in 1957. By 2008, Toyota will have the annual capacity to build about 2 million cars and trucks in 15 plants across North America. There are more than 1,700 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealerships in North America, which sell more than 2.5 million vehicles a year. Toyota directly employs more than 38,000 people in North America. Toyota's investment in North America is valued at more than $16.8 billion, and annual purchasing from North American suppliers totals more than $28 billion.
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