Toyota Building New Factory in Canada, Declares Americans Too Stupid Options

[Benevolence]

Toyota to build 100,000 vehicles per year in Woodstock, Ont., starting 2008

02:00 AM EDT Jul 06
STEVE ERWIN

WOODSTOCK, Ont. (CP) - Ontario workers are well-trained.

That simple explanation was cited as a main reason why Toyota turned its back on hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies offered from several American states in favour of building a second Ontario plant.

Industry experts say Ontarians are easier and cheaper to train - helping make it more cost-efficient to train workers when the new Woodstock plant opens in 2008, 40 kilometres away from its skilled workforce in Cambridge.

"The level of the workforce in general is so high that the training program you need for people, even for people who have not worked in a Toyota plant before, is minimal compared to what you have to go through in the southeastern United States ," said Gerry Fedchun, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, whose members will see increased business with the new plant.

Acknowledging it was the "worst-kept secret" throughout Ontario's automotive industry, Toyota confirmed months of speculation Thursday by announcing plans to build a 1,300-worker factory in the southwestern Ontario city.

"Welcome to Woodstock - that's something I've been waiting a long time to say," Ray Tanguay, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, told hundreds gathered at a high school gymnasium.

The plant will produce the RAV-4, dubbed by some as a "mini sport-utility vehicle" that Toyota currently makes only in Japan. It plans to build 100,000 vehicles annually.

The factory will cost $800 million to build, with the federal and provincial governments kicking in $125 million of that to help cover research, training and infrastructure costs.

Several U.S. states were reportedly prepared to offer more than double that amount of subsidy. But Fedchun said much of that extra money would have been eaten away by higher training costs than are necessary for the Woodstock project.

He said Nissan and Honda have encountered difficulties getting new plants up to full production in recent years in Mississippi and Alabama due to an untrained - and often illiterate - workforce. In Alabama, trainers had to use "pictorials" to teach some illiterate workers how to use high-tech plant equipment.

"The educational level and the skill level of the people down there is so much lower than it is in Ontario," Fedchun said.

In addition to lower training costs, Canadian workers are also $4 to $5 cheaper to employ partly thanks to the taxpayer-funded health-care system in Canada, said federal Industry Minister David Emmerson.

"Most people don't think of our health-care system as being a competitive advantage," he said.

Tanguay said Toyota's decision on where to build its seventh North American plant was "not only about money."

"It's about being in the right place," he said, noting the company can rely on the expertise of experienced Cambridge workers to help get Woodstock up and running.

Premier Dalton McGuinty said the money the province and Ottawa are pledging for the project is well-spent. His government has committed $400 million, including the latest Toyota package, to the province's auto sector, which helped finance $5-billion worth of industry projects.

"I think that's a great investment that will more than pay for itself in terms of new jobs and new economic returns," McGuinty said.

The provincial funds for the auto sector were drawn from a fund set up to attract investments specifically in that industry. McGuinty said no similar industry funds are being planned for other sectors, but added the province wants to attract biotechnology companies - those working on multibillion-dollar advanced medical research.

"What we have done for auto we would like to be able to do for biotech," he said. "That's where we're lending some real focus to at the present time."

Similarly, Emmerson said Ottawa is looking to help out industries that create "clusters" of jobs around them - such as in aerospace, shipbuilding, telecommunications and forestry - where supply bases build around a large manufacturer.

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/business/050630/b0630102.html

[Consynx]

lol
pretty sure they just bought a huge area in Michingan as well...
500acres or somethin...
i'll dbl check, my step-dad works for them

[boosted_K2]

yea im pretty sure they are building another development site in addition to the one currently in ann arbor... apparently they feel people from canada are better suited to put togeather what the US dreams up hehe just playin, but ya, thats pretty cool, it seems automotive makers like to keep their stuff centralized around certain areas.

[darksecret]

Toyota isn't the only one, GM has been on the Canada bandwagon and GM builds their crate motors in Mexico.

[Valo666]

whats wrong with Canada?? We have tons of car plants, like 20 min away from me on the highway Ford has the plant where all the winstars are made. Its because we have alot of ppl who need jobs up here in small towns and stuff and also because we have tons of open land up here thats availbe for making plants like what toyota's planning on duing.

[darksecret]

I'm not knocking it, they got good reasons to do it, since americans would complain about the factory being built where we want our new golf course, even though the factory will provide 10 times as many jobs as a golf course.

[Benevolence]

I just find it hillarious that Canada is putting up 125 million to help toyota while some southern states offered double that and toyota says that the difference money won't make up for the cost of training the "illiterate" southern americans.

[mark_426]

Glad I'm fron the northeast.. you florida guys should get your junk together

[saleeka]

I believe it- I had a friend in basic training in MO come back in shock that people from the deep south BRAGGED about how their education sucked, and how they diddent need school...

[blkGT]

Glad I'm fron the northeast.. you florida guys should get your junk together
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FL is where it's at

[darksecret]

Fl does't count it's the east coast Cali, I would move back to Orlando if I could afford to leave, the drawback to living in the Charlotte area is that it cost almost as much to live here as it does in New York City yet in the avg. income is about half as much so NC has a high rate of "uneducated" workers since a good education here will run at least $9,000 a year at a low quality university and most college students on their own only bring in about $11,000 avg so it's barely enough to skim by. Not to mention Canada has a much greater education system than the US.

[jwells]

I just find it hillarious that Canada is putting up 125 million to help toyota while some southern states offered double that and toyota says that the difference money won't make up for the cost of training the "illiterate" southern americans.
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That isn't representative of all people from the south, though. Think of the people needing jobs...the unemployed, mainly. They are unemployed because they lack the education and skills to work in high tech, competitive fields.

Those who do have education are usually furthering it in college, or are already in good jobs that pay enough that they do not want to leave them to go start over at base pay.

Saying that the entire workforce of the deep south as illiterate, as the article seems to imply, is ridiculous.

This post has been edited by jwells: Jul 7, 2005 - 7:46 PM

[saleeka]

still- look at the facts- the southern state's education levels are not on par compared to the rest of the country, plain and simple... who goes to college for 4 years to work in a blue collar factory? It dosent matter about what the southern people need in terms of jobs and helpful income- It has everything to do with Toyota continuing it's sucess as being an automotive giant- Following GM's ignorant footsteps in the industry isnt how Toyota got where it is today...

[darksecret]

I know a big problem in NC school systems is the quility of education varies so much based on the average income of the surronuding area, see I went to two high schools, one that was filled with snotty rich brats and the other was for kids who bought their lunch with food stamps (j/k, they would if they could though), the main reason I went to the rich school being low class was that my dad ended up married to a rich woman, I don't know how public schools are suppose to be set up but the statistics prove that the more wealthy children in schools the better the teachers and education are, the rich school made had an average that 75% of all grads would go to a college or university, 15% would go to a community college, 7% would work labor jobs, and 3% etc., the other school was more along the lines that 20% went to college, 15% community college, 60% unskilled labor, 5% etc. these aren't completely accurate but i'm basing off memory here, point is make public schools alike and you'll solve the southern education problem. Besides to defend the south (which I almost never do) the original article states the entire US not just the south and last time I checked both BMW and Honda have factories in South Carolina about an hour away from me.

[boosted_K2]

still- look at the facts- the southern state's education levels are not on par compared to the rest of the country, plain and simple... who goes to college for 4 years to work in a blue collar factory? It dosent matter about what the southern people need in terms of jobs and helpful income- It has everything to do with Toyota continuing it's sucess as being an automotive giant- Following GM's ignorant footsteps in the industry isnt how Toyota got where it is today...
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dude... theres a reason oakland county michigan is one of the top 5 richest counties in the united states... its called "Automation Alley". and i guarantee most of those people went to a university for +4 years while others never went to college period.

[saleeka]

yes, this is very true, but what does that have to do with what I said? The people who have that money arent the ones doing the labor on the assembly line...

[boosted_K2]

actually thats where just about all of them start out, and there are numerious people who do jobs such as fork truck drivers in these plants that make more yearly than some of the top engineers.