Toyota plant manager in North Carolina offers unique perspective

(WGHP) — She’s a pioneer who keeps pioneering.

First of all, April Mason is a woman in what has always been a male-dominated field: automobile manufacturing. She’s also a 30-year Toyota employee.

She joined the company as a team member relations manager at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky which, ironically, is in the process of undergoing a $1.3 billion upgrade so it can build an all-new, three-row electric SUV.

It’s probably safe to assume some of the batteries that will run those new SUVs will come from Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina (TBMNC), which is the nearly $14 billion factory complex under construction in the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite near the town of Liberty in Randolph County.

This seven-battery-manufacturing building complex will employ 5,000 people when it’s fully operational and churning out hybrid-electric, plug-in electric and full electric car and truck batteries within the next several years.

Mason is now one of three general managers at TBMNC. She’s in charge of “plant services.” The other general managers oversee “quality” and “manufacturing” respectively.

“So I have a responsibility for production control,” she told me during a recent interview at TBMNC’s temporary offices/training complex in southwest Greensboro. “Basically (it’s) getting all the materials to the plant that we use to make batteries, getting those delivered to the line, and then getting the finished product back to our customer.”

Since TBMNC will also be making batteries for other carmakers (Toyota’s not ready yet to name those companies), Mason will lead the team that will operate as a liaison between Toyota and those outside companies.

She also has extensive experience in human resources having worked not only as a human resources manager and manager of talent development with Toyota, she also led the implementation of Toyota Motor North America’s talent review system.

Although hiring team members isn’t something she oversees at TBMNC, she’s certainly qualified to talk about it.

“I came into it (this new position in North Carolina) expecting hiring to be a big challenge, but it really hasn’t,” she said. “We’ve had tremendous success here.”

At this writing, TBMNC has hired more than 800 people. There are also 1,000 who have job offers and are waiting to learn their start dates.

Most if not all of the new hires are learning at the temporary Greensboro building in special training centers, (Toyota calls them “dojos”) including one that simulates making batteries in a clean, dust-free environment.

Mason sees this environment as helping close the gender gap that exists not only in the automotive industry but in other STEM fields.

“So manufacturing has a reputation of being dirty, dark, messy,” she told me. “Battery manufacturing is totally different. It’s more like being in a laboratory or hospital environment. So I think it will be attractive not only to women, but I think most folks who may have been hesitant about manufacturing in the past.”

Mason is also not worried that sales of electric vehicles have slowed.

“Toyota is managed for the long term,” she said. “We are always looking at how to optimize our operations which is exactly why we have the multi-pathway approach.”

This multi-pathway approach involves the fact that since Toyota makes multiple types of electric vehicles (hybrid-electric, plug-in electric and full electric) it can adjust its battery manufacturing operations to whatever types of cars are selling the most.

“We couldn’t be happier to be here, and we’re so excited about the future,” she told me. “The folks that we have hired, we have a phenomenal team and it just keeps getting better.”

The words of a true pioneer.

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