Toyota Supplier Brings Jobs, $57 million to Gibson County

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has become a regular visitor to Japan, and the first term politician says his frequent flights to the Pacific Rim are helping net jobs for Hoosiers. "Making an effort to show respect and personal attention to ones customers is always a good idea in business," Daniels said at a press conference in Gibson County Monday. Daniels was on stage with the CEO and other corporate officials of Toyota Boshoku auto parts, which announced plans to locate a new plant near Princeton. Toyota Boshoku is among the fastest growing auto parts makers in the world, and will build metal seat frames for Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indianas Sienna Van line. They will join several other suppliers located near the TMMI plant. Boshoku CEO Nate Furuta says the decision to build close to the plant is based purely on economics. Because the US is so large, the cost of shipping product to various plants can be extreme. In an effort to cut those costs, the company wants to build its parts as close to the end user as possible. Location helped Gibson County beat out as many as 6 other states under consideration for the $57 million plant. The process of joining the near by supply line is called "in-sourcing." It will add about 200 new jobs, many of them skilled tool and dye positions. In-sourcing is in large part responsible for the surge in Japanese investment in Indiana over the recent years, including a new Toyota Camery production line in Lafayette, and the Honda plant under construction in Greensburg. Both of those plants have creating the need for local supply lines. Governor Daniels and Toyota Boshoku executive Dennis Cuneo say manufacturing jobs generate between seven and eight dollars in the local economy for every one dollar invested. All of those facts and figures are impressive to local leaders. But County Commissioner Sherrell Marginet says what really matters is finding good jobs for the men and women who call Gibson County home, so their children will want to stay as well.