The Hino Motors plant in Marion.
Hino Motors Manufacturing U.S.A. Inc. of Marion on Thursday celebrated the start of its production of Toyota Tacoma rear axles and front knuckle assemblies.
Consul-General of Japan Masami Kinefuchi; Nobushisa Tanaka, executive advisor for Toyota Motor North America; Danny Games, executive vice president at the Arkansas Economic Development Commission; Mike Dempter, president of the Marion Chamber; and other officials attended the event.
Hideyuki Omata and Masamichi Mizukoshi with Hino’s parent company, Hino Motors Limited of Japan, were also there.
In 2013, Hino decided to locate its Toyota Business Unit operation in Marion. The company has invested more than $280 million in the plant and equipment that includes more 550-plus major machines, according to the company.
The production space in Marion was expanded by 110,000 SF to 563,000 SF in order to accommodate the Tacoma project. New office space, a cafeteria and training center were also added. Over the past two years, Hino has purchased, transferred and installed additional production equipment in Marion. The company said it has hired and trained more than 300 full-time employees for that project.
Hino began the production of full rear axle assemblies for the Tacoma in January.
“Hino’s investments in the Marion plant are not only investments in physical space and equipment for the demands of today – but they are also investments in the future of Hino, Arkansas,” said Takashi Ono, president of Hino Motors Manufacturing, in a news release. “Our goal is to continue to strengthen our relationship with our customer, Toyota, and to continue to flourish. And with the increasing skill level of our team members and our on-going commitment to produce quality products for Toyota, we think our future is very bright.”
The plant also produces suspension components for the Toyota Sequoia, stampings or Toyota Corolla, and frame rails for Class 6 and 7 trucks. The plant produces about 1,000 Tacoma rear axle assemblies each day.
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