Hino Motors Mfg. U.S.A. will relocate its truck manufacturing and assembly operations from its current site in Williamstown, WV, to a new location in Mineral Wells, WV.
Hino, the truck- and bus-manufacturing subsidiary of Toyota, is investing $100 million in the new operation, which will create an estimated 250 new jobs by early 2020. The plant in Williamstown, 18 miles (29 km) north of Mineral Wells, employs 295 workers.
The 962,000-sq.-ft. (89,370-sq.-m) Mineral Wells location formerly was used as a warehouse by Coldwater Creek, a women’s clothing retailer that ceased operations there in 2014.
Hino produces Class 6 and 7 conventional body style trucks in the 245,000-sq.-ft. (22,760-sq.-m) former Walker Systems building in Williamstown. The company expects to begin operations at Mineral Wells by 2019. The new facility will house several operations, including cab assembly currently handled in Japan.
The Williamstown facility was Hino’s first transportation-equipment assembly plant in the U.S. Truck production began there in November 2007.
‟Hino has been a valued member of our business community since 2007,ˮ Woody Thrasher, West Virginia secretary of commerce, says in a news release. ‟Hinoʼs expansion will return an existing structure to active production and create more good manufacturing jobs right here in West Virginia.ˮ
