Toyota Mississippi building childcare center at its Blue Springs plant
Blue Springs childcare center built with innovative construction method
BLUE SPRINGS, MISS. (WCBI) – Before she came to Toyota Mississippi as manager of Corporate Communications, Tiffannie Hedin worked at the automaker’s Indiana plant and says having on-site childcare was a huge relief.
“I would drive with them to work every day have extra time in the car, would drop them off, just across the campus, be able to go visit them at lunch,” Hedin said.
On-campus childcare will soon be available to team members at Toyota Mississippi. An 18,000-square-foot childcare center is being built near the Experience Center at the Blue Springs plant. When completed, it will be able to handle more than 100 children per shift and will be open 24 hours.
The entire facility was built in Pennsylvania, as the Blue Springs site was being prepared. There are 34 modular units, complete with fixtures. A 900-ton crane was brought in to set the modular units on piers. They were welded into place. It is the first Toyota childcare facility to be built using the time-saving method.
“This was an opportunity for us to do something innovative with our site, and perhaps share and be a benchmark for others,” she said.
Along with providing a vital service and benefit to its team members, Toyota Mississippi is hopeful its childcare center will send a strong message to big businesses statewide.
“There are many counties within the Northeast region that are childcare deserts, so Toyota is not only investing in this for our benefit, for our team members, but also to advocate across the state, what is needed for our workforce, what is needed for our children to be ready for school, and that conversation we hope will continue,” Hedin said.
Tuition hasn’t been set for the childcare center, which will provide services for children ages six weeks to five years.
Toyota Mississippi’s childcare center is set to open this fall.
