Toyota Mississippi opens visitor’s center
Toyota Mississippi Experience Center provides unique look at auto manufacturing process
BLUE SPRINGS, MISS. (WCBI) – Toyota Mississippi is giving visitors a look at the manufacturing process, with a state of the art interactive visitor’s center.
“The Toyota Experience Center is a great opportunity for us to share what we do here at the Blue Springs plant,” said Toyota Mississippi President David Fernandes.
He says the 15,000 square foot workforce training and experience center allows guests to see everything that goes into manufacturing the Toyota Corolla. The Toyota Experience Center was built in partnership with the Mississippi Development Authority.
It showcases Toyota’s 125 year history, and features video kiosks, and careers at Toyota, and can be used as a recruiting tool. After guests tour the Toyota Experience, a shuttle will take them on a tour of the plant.
“People will come to a manufacturing plant like ours and they will see it’s a clean environment, high tech, robots, little gizmos running all over the place, I think that will appeal to the next generation of workers we’re trying to recruit,” Fernandes said.
The Toyota Experience has a lot of interactive elements, one, is how to paint a car, I’m trying it, and I’m painting it Barcelona Red. You want to get the paint even across the car. I think I missed a spot. We will get a score, and it’s timed. Time is up, Thirty one percent, I need improvement, for sure.
State lawmakers also tried their hand at painting the Corolla. They say the Toyota Experience is another example of the important role advanced manufacturing plays in Northeast Mississippi.
” Another home run for Northeast Mississippi. Toyota Mississippi opens the experience center, it’s a premiere center to welcome people from in and out of the state that are interested in world class manufacturing, taking place here in Blue Springs Mississippi. Another big win for Mississippi and Mississippi families,” said State Sen. Chad McMahan, who represents District 6.
“As we look at the state, we want to be number on the map, and this is what Toyota is doing. Putting us number one of the map, number one in the nation, lets rest of the nation know Mississippi is rising we will be on the top, make sure we stay number one and we definitely here want the community’s support,” said State Rep. Rickey Thompson, who represents District 16.
The Toyota Experience opens to the public on Wednesday.
The public tours of the Blue Springs plant will start in August. Toyota’s Mississippi Experience will be opened to the public Monday-Friday from 8;30 until 4. This is Toyota’s fourth experience center in the United States.
