Toyota Manufacturing Kentucky Web Site Gives Users A New Virtual Plant Experience

September 23, 2004 -- Georgetown, KY -- Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. (TMMK) has offered public tours since 1990, but if you are unable to attend in person, the company's web site has the answer.

The latest enhancement to the Virtual Tour on the www.toyotageorgetown.com web site includes several video clips with two tour guides taking you through Toyota's Georgetown, Kentucky plant, the company's largest plant in North America.

The new virtual tour allows visitors with high-bandwidth Internet connections to access an in-depth tour of TMMK, tracing the process path from raw steel to the finished vehicle. Using text, photos, on-demand video and immersive IPIX imagery, visitors will be able to enter the world of TMMK and explore its people, places and processes as never before possible. In fact, visitors on the virtual tour are able to view and explore places that even in-person visitors on the plant tour are unable to see, such as the paint shop and powertrain facility.

The Virtual Tour enhancement was developed by R. F. Sharp, a Lexington-based web developer who was also responsible for the overall development and design of the site during its inception in 1998. "The overall design of the new tour is tied to design of the site as a whole, using a simple, clean User Interface and a palette based on Toyota corporate standards," stated Sharp.

The web site is designed to address multiple audiences such as TMMK team members, prospective car buyers, members of the working media, manufacturers interested in the Toyota Production System, and the general public.

"I think our web site is quite diverse," said Rick Hesterberg, Assistant Manager in Corporate Communications at TMMK. "It offers something for a vast number of audiences. Over the years, more than 340,000 people have toured our facility in person. Obviously not everyone has that opportunity, so the Virtual Tour is a great substitute."

To tour TMMK in person, please call 800-TMM-4485 or 502-868-3027. Tours are available Monday through Friday at 10:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. In addition, a 6:00 p.m. tour is offered on Thursdays only. Reservations are recommended.

TMMK is located in Georgetown, Kentucky, and employs over 7,000 team members. The facility has the capacity to produce 500,000 vehicles and engines annually, including the Camry and Avalon sedans and the Solara coupe and Solara Convertible.