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
Exactly.
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.
Up until the post war era. After about 1960, a lot more cars started coming from GM without the Fisher markings.
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.
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.
"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.
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.
Where is the quote from the nea?
Some will resemble those remarks.(-;
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.
...
Good point!... I judge people's education by their "signature"
Ones signature alone it shows that persons level of education.
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
Production Avantis won't, either. Most of them are hard pressed to break 140.
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.
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.
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.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.