Images: Toyota

With Toyota’s ever expanding presence here in the United States, the company recently announced that it will be moving its North American headquarters to Plano, Texas over the next few years. This means that employees and processes of Toyota’s three existing headquarter operations in Torrance, California (current Sales Headquarters); Erlanger, Kentucky (current Manufacturing Headquarters); and New York, New York (current Marketing Headquarters) will be moved to a single state-of-the-art facility in Texas by 2017.

While the move to Texas may seem like a consolidation of sorts, Toyota maintains that the move is designed “to better serve customers and position Toyota for sustainable, long-term growth.” In a recent press release from the company, Toyota explained that by moving all three major North American headquarters to one facility, they could make vital decisions on all fronts in a faster and more efficient way. In total, this will affect about 4,000 current employees who’s jobs will be transferred to the Plano area.

“With our major North American business affiliates and leaders together in one location for the first time, we will be better equipped to speed decision making, share best practices, and leverage the combined strength of our employees,” Jim Lentz, first chief executive officer for the North America Region, stated in a recent news release.

“This, in turn, will strengthen our ability to put customers first and to continue making great products that exceed their expectations. Ultimately, enabling greater collaboration and efficiencies across Toyota will help us become a more dynamic, innovative and successful organization in North America. This is the most significant change we’ve made to our North American operations in the past 50 years, and we are excited for what the future holds.”

Groundbreaking for the new all-encompassing headquarters will take place this fall with construction set to take about two years. Small groups of employees will be moved to a temporary facility in Plano this fall, followed by major groups after the completion of the new headquarters facility in either 2016 or 2017.

In addition to transitioning all the current headquarters to one central facility, Toyota will also be moving their Financial Services to the new facility. Michigan’s Toyota Technical Center is also being expanded to accommodate a number of employees being moved because of this recent decision. Toyota’s 10 manufacturing facilities in the U.S. will not be affected by the major move.