The company’s biggest plant globally launches three worker training programs.
Toyota’s main slogan in America is “Let’s Go Places.” While that ad is aimed mainly at car buyers, the motto could also serve as the Japanese automaker’s call to workers.
In Kentucky, where Toyota has maintained an automotive assembly operation in Georgetown since 1988, the world’s second largest car company in sales is not just doubling down on workforce development; it is tripling down.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky recently announced three new large-scale worker readiness programs at its plant in Georgetown for the purposes of developing future labor talent and furthering the training of its existing workforce in the state.
The investments are coming in the creation of the 4T Academy, donating 10 new vehicles to Toyota’s Driving Possibilities initiative in Kentucky schools, and opening a new Toyota Maintenance and Training Center in Georgetown.
All three initiatives were announced by Toyota on July 29, 2024, at the company’s flagship American plant in Georgetown. Here are the details of each:
- 4T Academy: Toyota will invest up to $1 million to launch and sustain the all-new 4T Academy, which stands for Team, Teach, Together and Toyota. The collaboration with Scott County Schools is designed to provide high school juniors and seniors with a direct pathway to manufacturing careers. Students in the program will take state-approved courses while receiving hands-on instruction in a simulated factory environment. Seniors enrolled in the 4T Academy will earn around $18 an hour while working alongside Toyota team members.
- Driving Possibilities: To mark the one-year anniversary of the Driving Possibilities initiative with schools in Scott and Fayette Counties, Toyota is donating 10 Sienna minivans to the schools to help meet the transportation challenges of students. Driving Possibilities is a Toyota USA Foundation initiative that focuses on three areas in Kentucky: expanding literary and language resources; building education and industry partnerships; and tackling transportation barriers. Since its launch in the summer of 2023, the partnership has invested more than $3 million in Scott and Fayette County schools. The program will provide up to $5.7 million in additional assistance over the next several years.
- Toyota Maintenance Training Center: Toyota is investing $3 million to build and open a new 20,000-sq.-ft. training center onsite at the Georgetown plant. Toyota Kentucky is Toyota’s biggest plant in the world and provides jobs to nearly 10,000 Kentuckians in high-quality, high-wage manufacturing jobs.
Career technical training in Kentucky prepares young adults for a rewarding career in manufacturing. Shown here are Toyota manufacturing plant workers who have gone through various worker training programs over the years.
Photos courtesy of Toyota USA
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear celebrated the occasion by thanking Toyota for its ongoing investments into the people of the state.
“By providing good jobs for our families and investing in our communities, Toyota has always been a great Team Kentucky partner,” he said. “We applaud their continued growth and efforts to expand educational opportunities for our amazing workforce. Thanks to partners like Toyota, Kentucky became and will remain a national leader in the automotive industry.”
Toyota’s Georgetown plant represents about $10 billion in investment and produces two of the best-selling vehicles in America: the Camry Hybrid and the RAV4 Hybrid.
“Our most valuable assets are our team members. They are our heart,” said Kerry Creech, president of Toyota Kentucky. “That’s why we continuously invest time and resources into developing our people and providing students with strong career pathways for our future.”
Students currently going through these learning and training programs in Kentucky schools will one day be eligible to work at jobs in a Toyota plant. In late 2025 and early 2026, Toyota Kentucky will become the first Toyota plant in North America to assemble a battery-powered electric vehicle, thanks to a $1.3 billion investment by the company.
Supplying that plant will be yet another massive new manufacturing operation being built a few hours to the south. Toyota is currently building a $13.9 billion electric battery manufacturing complex in Liberty in Randolph County, North Carolina.
Toyota says it will need to hire more than 5,000 people to staff this new plant upon completion and full production. Toyota and the State of North Carolina are partnering with multiple colleges and universities to form training programs and career pathways to ensure that the company’s hiring needs are met.
