Legend2TL

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,4907237.story

This was where it all started for Toyota North America operations. The NUMMI plant was where Toyota learned all about building vehicles in the US, and GM was suppose to learn TPS from Toyota. Oh well at least one of them learned something

Moog-Type-S

Toyota is smart....getting out of an anti-business state like California is the right thing to do.

Decades ago when California was pro-business....this was the place to be....but no longer. Why get taxed to death when you can move/close your operations from the state of California and move them to another state that actually values your business.

Legend2TL

When selecting which GM plant Toyota would do their joint venture, Toyota selected the Fremont plant despite having it having some of the worst employee absentee rates, drug screening, and Union problems. Surprisingly after learning TPS that all changed, shocking even the GM exec's.

aznboi2424

iTrader: (10)

Toyota is bomb. No hate from me here.

biker

CA politicians thought things were bad now with the budget, wait till more companies like Toyota did here pull out of the state and leave them with no income. Their socialist ways will come back to bite them in the a$$.

JD23

News like this isn't surprising, considering that the politicians in CA and some other states have decided that business is the enemy.

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

Not at all shocked. I feel for the folks losing their jobs, but Toyota needs to do what is best for their company.

honda_nut

my cousin works here as an electrical engineer. kinda sucks that they're closing. but it's a great time for toyota to get out of there and just blame gm for it. there was no way that toyota was gonna continue with the unions demands.

PortlandRL

The unions are a virus that is sucking the well-being out of the auto industry. Toyota is smart to jump ship now before it's too late.

subinf

Kind of pathetic unions are blamed for a company's inability to get their shit done.

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

We should be used to this by now. It happens all the time. Just ask the folks that worked for Caterpillar in York, PA.

JD23

The unions are normally partially responsible, so they should be blamed. The failure of the American auto manufacturers can be traced to poor management decisions and the adversarial position of the unions, which lead to generous benefits for union members, but ultimately helped bankrupt the companies. Toyota is smart enough to stay away from the UAW.

Legend2TL

, the primary cause of the failure of the big three was the unions and senior management. The jobs bank program alone is one of the more amazingly bad business decisions made by the unions and Detroit. Only last year did the UAW formally cancel it with their contracts.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/unr...-uaw-job-bank/

JD23

I have an uncle who was being paid something in the range of $80k per year by GM to do plumbing work at a community center for four hours per day through the jobs bank program. I believe he did this for around three years following the closure of one of GM's plants.

LuvMyTSX

NJ included.

JD23

My uncle actually used to work at the GM plant in Linden until it closed.

mcflyguy24

So I just did a Wiki search for TPS and I got to say that Toyota is just being Toyota. They are aiming to reduce their overhead/waste that is caused by doing business with the union and within the confines of CA labor laws. They are a smart company and this is a smart move. I'm sure they'll open a new plant somewhere in the US down the line.