Toyota/Mazda Plant Targets 20 Percent Diversity Spend on Construction Contracts
Mazda Toyota Manufacturing USA, a new vehicle assembly plant under development in Limestone County, Alabama, has announced it aims to achieve at least 20 percent total diversity spend with certified women- and minority-owned enterprises on plant construction.
Recent construction sourcing includes awards to Indiana Bridge, an MBE structural steel supplier, and Aristeo Construction, a WBE general contractor. MTMUS says that construction is currently still on schedule — it mentioned the placing of 1,600 steel beams and 26,000 tons of total steel — and it expects production to begin as scheduled in 2021.
“Every aspect of MTMUS’s business must closely reflect our customers’ diverse backgrounds and experiences, including our team members, suppliers and business partners,” said Mark Brazeal, vice president of administration of MTMUS. “Together with our general contractors and structural steel supplier, we have set an ambitious target that will set the foundation for MTMUS’s future to compete as a world-class manufacturer of vehicles.”
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The plant will create up to 4,000 jobs, with hiring already underway. It will cover a massive area of 3.1 million square feet, with more than 2,500 workers expected to be on-site later in the summer. When completed, Toyota and Mazda say the plant will be able to put out about 300,000 vehicles every year.
The plant was announced in August 2017 as Toyota and Mazda seek to deepen their partnership in the face of a rapidly evolving automotive industry in which manufacturers stand more to gain by working together than by only competing with one another. Toyota in particular has been increasingly willing to strike alliances with other organizations to accelerate its development of costly future mobility technologies.
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