HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – The 300,000 square foot Toyota Boshoku Western Kentucky is fully up and running in Hopkinsville after two years of construction at the Southpark industrial complex. This new industry brings over 150 new jobs to the area and integrates new smart technology. To commemorate the grand opening on Dec. 9, city and county officials were joined by Gov. Andy Beshear and the President of Toyota Boshoku Japan.

“What a great day for Hopkinsville, what a great day for Christian County, what a great day for Western Kentucky,” said Beshear during the ceremony, who also attended the groundbreaking in October of 2023. “We used to be known as a flyover state, but today we are the destination for amazing investments and expansions for companies like this one…it takes all of us working together to make these wins happen.”

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Words from Toyota Boshoku, ribbon cutting

Located on nearly 50 acres in Christian County, this is officially TBA’s first “smart plant,” implementing technologies to create a more efficient and environmentally responsible operation.

“The continued support of our local community is essential,” said President of Toyota Boshoku Japan Masayoshi Shirayanagi. He also thanked current employees and Boshoku staff operating in the United States for their hard work. To the TBA president, Shirayanagi gifted wall art created from seat fabric to be displayed at the Hopkinsville facility that features a quote from the original Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda, which reads, “Open the door, it’s a big world out there.”

“The grand opening of Toyota Boshoku Western Kentucky is not just about our company growing. It also shows our promise to keep improving, to care for the environment, and most of all to support the people who will work here,” said President and CEO of Toyota Boshoku America Shunichi Iwamori.

Christian County and Hopkinsville High Schools students were also party of the grand opening, with a jazz band playing during the reception and a student choir and JROTC joining. Gifts were exchanged between leadership partners including Kentucky Bourbon and Sake. Hopkinsville officials also gifted a custom bourbon barrel lid to Boshoku leadership.

The leaders joined together for a tree planting ceremony in front of the facility to signify growing strong and being deeply rooted in the community. This was followed by a ribbon cutting ceremony facilitated by the Christian County Chamber of Commerce.

About Toyota Boshoku, facility features

With their world headquarters located in Kariya City, Japan, Toyota Boshoku is one of the world’s premium interior systems suppliers and filter manufacturers. The $225 million Hopkinsville facility creates and distributes various seat frame mechanism parts including seat tracks for vehicles as well as seat recliner parts, gears, and motors.

The spacious, wide open manufacturing floor operates with safety as their first priority. A tour of the facility revealed staff working hand in hand with automated systems, including robots that assist in delivering and organizing materials. A large “vending machine” style structure highlights this automation, with automated arms distributing items to robots that glide throughout the facility. The technology used in Hopkinsville hopes to become the model for other Toyota Boshoku facilities in the future.

With the future in mind, empty areas in the facility will accommodate the growth they anticipate over the next five years, with new training areas recently built inside to provide safe areas for new employees. Although the grand opening was just held, employees have been hard at work for over a month. As they continue to settle into the facility, job openings are still available for the Hopkinsville location for manufacturing, production, quality control, technicians, and various team leader positions for days and nights.

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