HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Toyota is investing in the future of Alabama students by helping them receive hands-on experience that will make them more desirable when they join the workforce.
Toyota’s Huntsville plant recently donated 45 V6 engines to technical schools in Madison, Limestone, Morgan, Marshall, DeKalb and Cullman counties. These engines will replace ones that are almost ten years old.
The engines were made on Toyota’s state-of-the-art production line and will allow students to get their hands on materials they could actual work with in the real world, which would help them be able to immediately enter the workforce after graduation.
“In education, we hear people all the time talk about that they want to help, what can we do to help,” said Bill Hopkins, superintendent of Morgan County Schools. “Here’s a company that is actually practicing what they preach.”
Education has been a major focus for Toyota, and the company hopes it can continue to train the next generation of auto manufacturers.
“By having access to this latest technology, it’s our hope that the students will really gain better skills and become more interested in automobile manufacturing and advanced manufacturing altogether,” said Jim Bolte, president of Toyota Alabama.
Donating these engines is just another example of Toyota’s dedication to education. Toyota partnered with Calhoun Community College two years ago to start the Advanced Manufacturing Technician Initiative, which gives students hands-on experience and the opportunity to earn enough money so they can graduate debt free. The first class will graduate next month.
The Toyota Huntsville plant is the only Toyota facility in the world that manufactures four-cylinder, V6 and V8 engines all under one roof. The plant produced a record 630,000 engines in 2015, including the plant’s 4 millionth engine in September.
Tina Lane, a Toyota Alabama team member who has been building engines on the line since the plant opened, said achieving the production milestone made her proud.
“Just think, 4 million Toyota vehicles around the world are being powered by our engines — that’s a big responsibility,” Lane said.
