1998. This was initially the only vehicle to be built in Princeton, but now the plant is being expanded to produce the new Sequoia sports utility vehicle that Toyota is adding to its line. The Siena mini van, which is currently made at the Kentucky plant, will also be produced at TMMI in the near future. When the expansion is complete, Toyota will provide work for over 4300 Southern Indiana residents. TMMI is structured similar to other vehicle manufacturing plants. They have two specific job classes. The first one contains the associates and specialists. The second consists of a hierarchy of employees that work in a domino effect and report to the person above them until they reach the manager, if needed. The employees are given the following titles: team member, team leader, group leader, assistant manager, and manager. Team members are those that actually assemble the vehicles. Team leaders are in charge of four team members and oversee production and small machinery problems. Group leaders have two groups of team leaders underneath them. They are the link between the workers on the line and management. They take care of communication problems on the line and make decisions that should not be taken to management. TMMI places an enormous emphasis on teamwork. This comes from the Japanese culture and their business philosophy; as a result, Toyota demands a great deal of camaraderie amongst team members and overall team building exercises in order to fulfill the emphasis they place on a team-oriented workplace. Toyota feels very strongly about the group leader position as a whole and feels that it is the most important role of the chain of communication. According to TMMI human resources department, the training of group leaders is an essential and effective way for communication to grow and develop between the workers on the line and the managers who are in their offices all day. Constant contact with the group lea...
