By Dan Shaw, Evansville Courier & Press
Today is the first day Toyota will suspend its production of the Tundra pickup truck and Sequoia sport utility vehicle in Princeton, Ind.
The suspension will last until early November, when the company will resume making both.
Toyota has repeatedly said that change and others will not cause the 4,500 employees at the Princeton plant to lose their jobs. About 1,300 of them work in the company's west plant, where the Tundra and Sequoia are made.
Some workers may look at the suspension as an opportunity to take temporary assignments - or "dispatch" assignments - at factories in Lafayette, Ind., and Georgetown, Ky. Kelly Dillon, a Toyota spokeswoman, said the company reminded Princeton employees of those assignments this week, although they have always existed.
Toyota makes the Camry and Avalon in Georgetown and is getting ready to make the Venza, a vehicle meant to combine the attributes of an SUV and a sedan. In Spring 2007, Toyota began making the Camry in Lafayette, in a partnership with Subaru of Indiana Automotive.
Although the Princeton factory will resume production of the Tundra in November, it will permanently stop making it there in spring 2009. That line will be consolidated in San Antonio, where Tundras are also made. Replacing the Tundra in Princeton will be the Highlander SUV, which will begin rolling off assembly lines in fall 2009.
During those changes, Toyota plans to train Princeton employees in improving quality and safety at the plant.