Toyota production to see downtime, including at Gibson County plant

Evansville Courier & Press

Toyota has scheduled additional non-production days at several of its North American manufacturing facilities over the next few months in response to high inventory levels caused by slow industry sales. The number of non-production days varies by assembly line and model.

At it's Gibson County plant, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana has scheduled 17 non-production days during March for its Sequoia line. Most of are due to retooling of the same line to include Highlander production that is slated to begin late this year. The Sienna van line is scheduled to be down for nine days this month, eight in February and 13 in March. The January non-production days had been announced previously. Both plants are on non-production many of the same days, said company spokesperson Kelly Dillon, adding it will have no impact on employment.

On average, inventory of Toyota's North American built vehicles ranges from 80-90 days. With the new production adjustments, Toyota hopes to reduce inventory by about half in the second quarter of the year.

"This is a tough environment, and it may continue for a while. We are making responsible business decisions now in order to sustain our business over the long term," said Jim Wiseman, vice president of external affairs for Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America. "In addition to slowing production we are redoubling efforts to cut costs at each of our facilities. Further actions and sacrifices may be necessary, but we will continue to do everything possible to assure the viability of our plants and protect the long term employment security of our team members."