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Toyota to build 100,000 vehicles per year in Ontario (Americans too illiterate to train)
CBC ^ | July 3, 2005 | STEVE ERWIN

Posted on 07/03/2005 3:25:54 PM PDT by ItsJeff

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.

© The Canadian Press, 2005


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Canada; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; US: Alabama; US: Mississippi
KEYWORDS: automakers; manufacturing; toyota; workforce
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To: mugs99
My understanding is that GM stopped production of Fisher bodied Studebakers in 1964, maybe they needed to increase capacity and Studebacker was a drag on production.

But Fisher was a design studio as well as a production facility. I think the Avanti scared the GM bureaucrats

I still remember the step-plate on my dad's 53 Studebacker Commander and my own 64 Chevy II; Body by Fisher.
The Avanti was way ahead of it's time even for the Italians.
161 posted on 07/03/2005 8:22:10 PM PDT by beaver fever
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To: Spktyr
More like Toyota is getting fed up with the UAW screwing with their NUMMI plant in California.

Exactly.

162 posted on 07/03/2005 8:27:26 PM PDT by oldbrowser (You lost the election.....get over it.)
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To: beaver fever

The Avanti was designed by an American, Raymond Loewy. He designed many of the classic Studebakers, many Streamliner trains, and the classic Coca-Cola bottle.

Until very recently, Jaguar sedan bodies and body parts were stamped out by Pressed Steel Fisher in the UK. Yup, same company (initially).

Fischer was originally a coachworks that designed and built their own bodies, but by the 80s, it was just a name for cars churned out by the GM design studios, and the bodywork was made at GM suppliers. GM bought the company in the early 60s. In 1964-65, they sold off the production facilities. PSF-UK was merged with BMC/British Leyland in 1965 and thus was taken out of the GM orbit.


163 posted on 07/03/2005 8:42:32 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: mugs99

Up until the post war era. After about 1960, a lot more cars started coming from GM without the Fisher markings.


164 posted on 07/03/2005 8:43:42 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: ItsJeff

I worked in NYC in two major law firms for about eight years, and in that time I hired and supervised many 100 of temps, usually out-of-work actors and recent college or law school grads.

In that whole time, I only encountered maybe a half dozen temps that were any good, and really only two excellent ones.

I know where these guys are coming from.


165 posted on 07/03/2005 8:46:04 PM PDT by HitmanLV
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To: mugs99

Also, production Avantis are *slow* by modern standards. The new GTO, the C5 Vette, the new Mustang GT, all of them are faster and quicker than the Avanti, which was still in production until a couple years ago.


166 posted on 07/03/2005 8:48:25 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Spktyr

"More like Toyota is getting fed up with the UAW screwing with their NUMMI plant"

That and healthcare benefits that would need to be paid to American workers.


167 posted on 07/03/2005 8:50:57 PM PDT by ArmedNReady (Islam, the Cancer on Humanity.)
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To: ArmedNReady

Perhaps not, since their other US plants do not have excessive healthcare costs.

Toyota's got the UAW demanding cradle-to-grave 100% everything covered in CA, though.


168 posted on 07/03/2005 8:54:13 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: ItsJeff

Where is the quote from the nea?


169 posted on 07/03/2005 9:02:20 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
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To: KneelBeforeZod

Some will resemble those remarks.(-;


170 posted on 07/03/2005 9:17:17 PM PDT by WolfRunnerWoman (I want closure on the word "closure".)
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To: Spktyr

General Motors bought 60 percent interest in Fisher Body in 1919 and the remaining 40 percent in 1926. Fisher built GM, Ford and Dodge bodies besides Studebakers. They also built airplanes during WWI and WWII.
...


171 posted on 07/03/2005 9:40:56 PM PDT by mugs99
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To: beaver fever
My understanding is that GM stopped production of Fisher bodied Studebakers in 1964, maybe they needed to increase capacity and Studebacker was a drag on production.

That may have been a factor, but I think Studebaker's financial problems were the main cause. Studebaker did their own designs and engineering and could have used another stamping plant.

Studebaker paid the highest wages and benefits in the industry, and their production costs were just too high to allow them to be competitive. They are the only automaker who never had a workers strike.

I still remember the step-plate on my dad's 53 Studebacker Commander

Many, including myself, consider the 1953 Studebaker the most beautiful car ever made!
...
172 posted on 07/03/2005 9:54:28 PM PDT by mugs99
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To: Spktyr
Will they do 200mph on the flats?
...
173 posted on 07/03/2005 9:57:09 PM PDT by mugs99
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To: mewzilla
FWIW, I wonder how many Fortune 500 CEOs could pass a spelling test?

Good point!... I judge people's education by their "signature"

Ones signature alone it shows that persons level of education.

174 posted on 07/03/2005 10:16:20 PM PDT by danmar ("No person is so grand or wise or perfect as to be the master of another person." Karl Hess)
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To: danmar

Many companies built plants where they got tax breaks and could employ in a "right to work" state. They later found out the expense of training people who lacked in education.
They were slow to learn = TIME IS MONEY.

2004-2005 Education Rankings

31 - Michigan
33 - Texas
37 - Kentucky
41 - Tennessee
44 - Alabama
47 - Mississippi


175 posted on 07/03/2005 10:56:56 PM PDT by VideoDoctor
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To: mugs99

Production Avantis won't, either. Most of them are hard pressed to break 140.


176 posted on 07/03/2005 11:19:13 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: All

Toyota's president said he would consider to rise the price of Toyota's cars in US so it would not threat the shares of other US firms, probably to survive together in the market.


177 posted on 07/04/2005 3:04:48 AM PDT by Wiz
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To: GOPologist

No, boycotting Toyota is NOT the answer. Looks as if you need to read the article again (and again), until you understand it.

Or maybe we need to present it to you as a graphic.


178 posted on 07/04/2005 3:18:07 AM PDT by docbnj (There are just three good judges, joined in the this case by O'Connor (to her credit).)
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To: ItsJeff

As far as i know this is old news.

i read that several weeks ago in the financial press.

The main argument was the health care system or better the lower costs (risks) in Canada and not the education of the workers.


179 posted on 07/04/2005 3:28:30 AM PDT by stefan10
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To: mugs99
Many, including myself, consider the 1953 Studebaker the most beautiful car ever made!

Count me in! The Hawk was a knockout too.
180 posted on 07/04/2005 3:38:16 AM PDT by GodBlessRonaldReagan (Count Petofi will not be denied!)
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