Toyota Goes Texan
Toyota, Texas? Employees at Toyota will soon be trading in surfboards and sushi for big hats and barbecue as Toyota builds a new national headquarters in Texas.
By Kimberly Phipps
April 28th, 2014–Toyota announced today that it is establishing a new headquarters in Plano (North Dallas) TX. At present, Toyota has three separate headquarters across the country—one in New York, NY, one in Erlanger, KY, and the largest one in Torrance, CA. This will impact over 4000 employees across the country as Toyota combines these three different locations into one all-new, state of the art campus.
Toyota will construct a new, environmentally-sustainable campus facility in Plano (North Dallas), which is expected to take two or more years to construct after groundbreaking in the fall of 2014. Until the new campus facility is complete, initial small groups of employees will work from a temporary location in the Plano area.
Why the move? Jim Lentz, who was named Toyota’s first chief executive officer for the North America Region in 2013, said: “With our major North American business affiliates and leaders together in one location for the first time, we will be better equipped to speed decision making, share best practices, and leverage the combined strength of our employees. This, in turn, will strengthen our ability to put customers first and to continue making great products that exceed their expectations. Ultimately, enabling greater collaboration and efficiencies across Toyota will help us become a more dynamic, innovative and successful organization in North America. This is the most significant change we’ve made to our North American operations in the past 50 years, and we are excited for what the future holds.”
Well, that and the barbecue.