Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana will eliminate its variable work force of about 370 workers by the end of the year, according to a company spokeswoman.
The job cuts are due to several factors, including the fact the Gibson County plant no longer needs to provide workers to help start up Toyota's San Antonio plant and a decline in demand for the Sequoia sport utility vehicle one of the vehicles made at TMMI.
Kelly Dillon, a TMMI spokeswoman, said employees at TMMI and at Personnel Management Inc., which provides the variable work force, were notified of the cutbacks this week.
The job cuts will not affect any of TMMI's regular work force of 4,700. The affected workers are employed by Personnel Management, which is contracted by TMMI to provide a temporary work force that can be increased or reduced according to workplace demands.
Personnel Management, which has its headquarters in Greenwood, Ind., and an office in Evansville, has provided TMMI's variable work force for the last four years.
Dillon said TMMI was working with Personnel Management to try to find other employment for the affected workers. Some would go to Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc., which Toyota partly owns, in Lafayette, Ind.
Dillon said there were a number of reasons why the variable work force was being eliminated. TMMI had been providing workers to help start up the Toyota plant in San Antonio, which began production late last year. Support for that plant start was no longer needed.
Also no longer needed were workers on pilot teams to prepare the plant to manufacture the new model Tundra pickup truck the plant began producing this year.
Although the plant will use employees for pilot teams to prepare for production of a new model Sequoia, these pilot teams will no longer be needed by year's end, Dillon said.
Also, demand for the Sequoia, in line with demand for sport utility vehicles nationwide, is declining, Dillon said.
With the diminished requirements for workers, the plant was eliminating its variable work force for now.
Dillon said Toyota executives continually review workplace requirements.
“Since this is a cyclical industry, it will go up and it will go down,” she said.
The variable work force is one way they use to adjust the work force to meet demands. Other ways the work force is adjusted is by having workers work overtime and work Saturdays, Dillon said.
Dillon said the variable work force is likely to return to TMMI. “We definitely will have a need for a variable work force in the future,” adding that Personnel Management would be considered to provide it.
The approximately 370 workers of Personnel Management are among a contractual work force of between 1,000 and 1,200 at TMMI, Dillon said.
TMMI is the area's largest employer.
