Toyota West Virginia Celebrates Completion of Engine Plant
22 May 2000
Toyota West Virginia Celebrates Completion of Engine Plant
Company Purchases New Ambulance for Putnam County and Unveils Quilt
Symbolizing West Virginia Quality
BUFFALO, W.Va., May 22 Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC)
President Fujio Cho, Governor Cecil Underwood, Senator Jay Rockefeller and
hundreds of guests from throughout West Virginia, the U.S. and Japan, joined
officials at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, West Virginia, Inc. (Toyota West
Virginia) today to dedicate the engine plant and celebrate its official
completion.
The Toyota West Virginia plant dedication marked Cho's first official
visit to a North American Toyota manufacturing facility since being named
President of TMC last year. President Cho told the gathering, "In four short
years, this once-open field has transformed into a thriving plant where some
650 West Virginians are producing some of the world's best engines. In less
than a year, Toyota West Virginia will become the first plant outside of Japan
to produce automatic transmissions."
Toyota West Virginia officials marked the plant's completion by announcing
their plan to purchase an ambulance to service northern Putnam County and
unveiling a custom-made art quilt symbolizing West Virginia quality.
David Copenhaver, the plant's General Manager of Administration, said,
"This part of Putnam County has been in need of local ambulance service for a
number of years. We are happy to be able to help the Putnam County Commission
meet this important need for our community." Currently, the closest ambulance
is stationed in Winfield, nearly 15 minutes away. The new ambulance will be
housed in the Buffalo Volunteer Fire Department Station and staffed by Putnam
County Emergency Medical Services. The Putnam County Commission will provide
additional funding to staff and operate the Buffalo station.
The dedication event culminated with the unveiling a patchwork quilt
honoring the traditional craftsmanship and skill of West Virginians and
symbolizing the partnership between Toyota and the Mountain State. "In many
ways, Toyota West Virginia's engines are like the beautiful patchwork quilts
made by generations of West Virginians," said Tomoya Toriumi, President and
CEO of Toyota West Virginia. "They both contain many small but important
pieces assembled with creativity, teamwork, and skill to make a beautiful,
useful product." Toriumi also praised employees and the community for their
role in the successful completion of the engine plant.
The Toyota West Virginia dedication quilt, titled "Motion," was designed
by Charleston artist Leslie Sabol and produced by the skilled artisans at the
Cabin Creek Quilts cooperative in Malden. Sabol said she designed the quilt
to "capture the interest of its viewers and challenge them to look again and
again." The sampler quilt uses traditional Appalachian patterns and Asian-
inspired fabric designs to create a circular motif common in Japanese
artistry. According to Sabol, "The result is a celebration of the partnership
between two cultures and a surprising resemblance to machinery in `Motion.'"
Toyota presented the State of West Virginia with a replica of the "Motion"
quilt, which will be the first in a series of "Millennium Quilts" produced by
Cabin Creek Quilts and sponsored by West Virginia businesses or organizations.
President Cho also received a replica of the quilt to display at TMC's
headquarters in Japan. Each of the event's guests received a hand-made item
based on the quilt's design.
The Toyota West Virginia project was announced in May of 1996. Ground was
broken on the 4-cylinder engine plant in September of 1996. In January of
1998 Toyota announced the plant's first expansion, a V6 engine facility. A
second expansion, Toyota's first automatic transmission plant outside Japan,
was announced in September of 1998. Toyota West Virginia has been making
engines at the Buffalo facility since late 1998. Currently the plant employs
nearly 650 people and produces about 800 4-cylinder and 400 V6 engines per
day. The number of employees will climb to approximately 800 during 2001,
when the automatic transmission plant begins production.
The 4-cylinder engines are produced for California-built Toyota Corollas
and the V6 engines are produced for the Kentucky-built Toyota Avalon. The
Buffalo plant will have the annual capacity to produce 300,000 4-cylinder
engines for California-produced Corollas and Prizms, 200,000 V6 engines for
Kentucky-produced Avalons and Siennas, and 360,000 automatic transmissions per
year for North American-produced Camrys. The planned investment at the Buffalo
site is $900 million.