Toyota Tsusho Ground Breaking

Please read a press release from Woodstock Mayor Michael Harding regarding Toyota Tsusho. Toyoto is one of the most environmentally friendly companies in the world and this is illustrated by the development of Toyota Tsusho in Woodstock very near the new RAV4 plant.

Toyota Tsusho Ground Breaking

As construction continues on Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada's Woodstock plant, there are many other new construction projects going on nearby. These are the sites of many of the suppliers that are creating facilities specifically to meet the needs of TMMC. In addition, there are already many existing area suppliers ramping up for the new production over the coming year.

Existing and new suppliers have an opportunity to grow with our Toyota plant. This growth is already adding jobs and support to the local economy.

TMMC purchasing over the past year looked for opportunities to buy products locally to better support both the new Woodstock plant and the current facility in Cambridge. There are numerous benefits to having a supplier closer including better communication, quicker response times, less travel and smaller inventories.

From a cost perspective, having a supplier closer makes sense. With fuel costs rising and the growing need for parts, transportation costs are becoming more important than ever before.

To reduce these costs, TMMC Purchasing consulted with the suppliers some of them very large, up to 16-hours drive time away from the Cambridge plant.

Through meetings, discussion and collaboration, seven suppliers developed a business case to justify building new factories (Greenfield sites) in Ontario. In addition, 14 existing Ontario suppliers gained business with TMMC for the first time because they were most competitive.

All of these new developments make this a very exciting time for our community.

Today we welcome Toyota Tsusho, Maple Automotive and Green Metals to Woodstock. Maple Automotive will be supplying tire and wheel assemblies for the RAV4 and our hosts today, Green Metals, is the recycling division of Toyota Tsusho (pronounced Two-Show).

Green Metals is a world class innovator, second to none in the recycling industry. It has a demonstrated commitment to the environment and we have no doubt that it can securely locate next to our significant Brick Ponds wetland complex. It will be one of the few completely hermetically sealed buildings in all of Ontario.

This site utilizes land within our previous city boundaries on existing infrastructure and represents very little additional cost to the taxpayer as services are already in place. And we also have the good fortune that one of our Oxford County builders, Grassmere Construction, has won the contract for the construction, along with more work for some of our local trades.

Over the coming months we will learn more of these companies and the goods and services they provide. They join the ranks of Toyota Boshoku Canada, Aisin Canada, Vuteq Canada, Hino, Mitsui Auto Steel, and the hundreds of other suppliers in the region.

We are honoured that they have chosen our City as your first Canadian investment in advanced recycling technology. Even though this is a humble beginning, this technology represents a huge prospect for the future and speaks to the environmentally conscious business community we are seeking to attract for future generations.

It is time to celebrate another milestone, a further "follow-on" investment in us by a Toyota family company which is so diverse in terms of sectors and investments around the globe that we are truly fortunate that they have chosen our community of Woodstock.

Mayor Michael Harding
City of Woodstock
Phone (519) 539-2382 x 811
E-mail mayor@city.woodstock.on.ca