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Toyota announces job cuts
The Toyota Motor Manufacturing plant in Buffalo, W.Va., has announced plans to cut 120 temporary workers by the end of January 2009.
Purchase this photoBUFFALO, W.Va. -- The global slowdown in auto sales is prompting another cut in jobs in the Tri-State, this time by the Toyota Motor Manufacturing plant in Buffalo.
As part of company-wide cuts announced by Toyota on Wednesday, the engine and transmission plant in Buffalo will release 120 temporary workers by the end of January 2009, a plant official said Wednesday.
The Buffalo plant is joining other Toyota plants nationwide in reducing production to allow inventory to align with slowing demand, said Jeff Moore, Buffalo's vice president of Toyota Manufacturing.
The plant also will shut down production lines on Dec. 22 and 23, thus extending a company-wide holiday production shutdown that already was scheduled from Dec. 24 to Jan. 4. Staff will still report to work on Dec. 22 and 23, Moore said.
"We'll use those days to catch up on training, improvement activities and maintenance work, that kind of thing," Moore said.
The company also intends to reduce overtime whenever possible, he said.
Toyota's announcement came just little more than a week after AK Steel in Ashland, Ky., announced that it was temporarily shutting down most of its operations next week and laying off about 650 workers until at least mid-January. The company cited reduced demand for steel, and much of that was attributed to a big slowdown in the nation's auto industry, Ashland officials said.
Auto and light truck sales in the United States fell by about 32 percent in October, and sales are down year-to-date by about 15 percent. The U.S. Big Three automakers, which now are seeking government help, were the hardest hit. But even Toyota has felt the pain, too. Its sales in the U.S. were down 23 percent in October.
Toyota's extra two-day production shutdown will apply to all of its plants in the U.S. and Canada. Toyota also announced these steps:
Cut about half of 500 temporary workers at a plant in Georgetown, Ky., by March, company spokeswoman Kayo Doi said.
Beginning in January, reduce production of the Sienna minivan at its Indiana plant.
Slow a line for the Camry and Avalon sedans at the Kentucky plant.
At New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. in Fremont, California -- its joint venture with General Motors Corp. -- eliminate a shift producing the Tacoma pickup truck.
Earlier this month, Toyota said net profit for the July-September quarter plunged 69 percent and downgraded its full-year profit forecast to about a third of last year's result.
Moore said the job cuts at the Buffalo plant, though disheartening for the temporary contract workers, come as no surprise.
"The auto industry is cyclical, and we have to be flexible to the market," he said. "Most importantly, we're committed to the long-term security of our full-time members.
"Unfortunately, we'll have to make some changes to our variable team members (temporary workers) to work our way through this period."
The plant, which assembles 4- and 6-cylinder engines and automatic transmissions, has a total of 1,350 full-time and temporary workers at the plant. Moore declined to say how many are full time.
The plan to cut back production of the Sienna minivan is expected to hit the Buffalo plant hard because it supplies the engines and transmissions for the model.
On the up side, Moore said, the Corolla and Matrix four-cylinder cars remain popular. In addition, Toyota continues to be committed to production in North America with future production plans calling for manufacture of the Highlander, Prius and Rav4 to move to North America, he said.
"Hopefully all those models will present some business opportunities for us here in West Virginia," Moore said.
"It's a severe economy that we've got," Moore said in closing. "Our priority is to protect our full-time team members."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
