Toyota seat supplier Boshoku to build plant in Indiana

A key supplier of Toyota Motor Corporation on October 15 announced plans to build a new seat production and assembly line in southern Indiana that will employ more than 200 workers.

Toyota Boshoku Corporation's 201,000-square-foot facility will make and assemble seat frames for the nearby Toyota Motor Manufacturing plant, state and company officials said.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels praised the company's decision to expand in Indiana.

''Toyota and its suppliers have played a significant role in our economic comeback,'' Daniels said. ''In the last three years, their success has resulted in more than 2,500 new Hoosier jobs.''

Toyota Motor owns 39 percent of Toyota Boshoku, which has worldwide revenues of $9.5 billion and recently opened its U.S. headquarters in Erlanger, Ky.

The new Princeton facility joins a network of 22 production plants in North America that supply Toyota and General Motors with auto parts including seats, carpets, filters and power train systems. Gibson County already is home to a 4,700-worker Toyota Motor complex that produces the Sienna.

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2008 with production beginning a year later.

''Toyota Boshoku America is proud to build on our presence in southern Indiana,'' said chairman and chief executive Kiyoshi ''Nate'' Furuta. ''We know that southern Indiana has an experienced and dedicated workforce.''