Toyota hired 95 percent North Carolina talent for new jobs

LIBERTY, N.C. (WGHP) — Toyota will start production at their new battery manufacturing plant early next year. They have a team of about 1,000 people hired, about 1,000 more are waiting for a start date and they are well on their way to the 5,000 hires they need for full production.

Of those hires, about 95 percent of the workers at Toyota are from within a 60-mile radius of the new megasite in Liberty. While the small town was skeptical of the big company moving into town, one woman in Liberty has embraced her new neighbors, while also getting the inside scoop.

Rebecca Sams and her family love their property and their pets. They have a farm with dogs, chickens, turkeys and cows. Their quiet neck of the woods is now a home to Toyota.

“When I found out Toyota was coming and was literally going to be my neighbor, I was super excited … As soon as they started posting jobs, I put in for it,” Sams said.

She was working a job over an hour away. Now, she can walk to the megasite.

“I have found that I am able to do more things here with my family … I am expanding here in my personal life,” Sams said.

At home, she wears a farm hat. But at work, she wears a hair net.

There are new hires, new tools and countless hours of training.

At the new plant, Sams will lead her team for battery electric vehicle operations.

“Currently, I am traveling back and forth from Japan, learning the machines, checking them out and making sure they are safe for our team members here in the United States, and I am also working with the Japanese leaders to create the process,” Sams said.

It’s not just Sams. Hundreds of others are hired and in place.

“We have enough team members now to start production in our hybrid battery building, and we are doing trials as we speak,” said Sean Shuggs, the president of Toyota North Carolina.

Toyota is on time to start production and make its mark in the Triad.

“When we started this journey of construction two years ago, we had a trajectory we wanted to hit, and we have exceeded that … in our first two years, and we hope that trend will continue,” Shuggs said.

The work and the construction are far from over.

“It is messy right now. I also am experiencing the road closures and the congestion in the mornings, and I have had to change my life a little bit because of the traffic, but it will get better,” Sams said.

Toyota partnered with community colleges and NC Works to keep new recruits coming in. They are still hiring and need about 3,000 people.

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