feature story
“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, CEO of Toyota North America, said
in a statement.
Sharing of intellectual resources, between different parts of the large company, is one reason
Toyota is choosing to bring them all under one
big, Texas-sized roof.
Ground has been broken on the facility, which is
expected to be completed in 2016. A pro-business state and a $40 million cash incentive from
the Texas Enterprise Fund are just a few of the
reasons Toyota chose the North Texas area.
“Nothing is more American than Texas, and Toyota
wants to establish itself as a heartland company,
particularly since it’s already conquered both
coasts,” Jesse Toprak, chief analyst at Cars.com,
told The Dallas Morning News. “I think there were
some strategic considerations here.”
The move also puts Toyota closer to most of its
manufacturing plants. The company has factories
in Tupelo, Miss.; Georgetown, Ky.; San Antonio;
Princeton, Ind.; Huntsville, Ala.; and Buffalo,
W.Va. Toyota’s 14 North American manufacturing
facilities now build 71 percent of the vehicles
the company sells in the U.S., up from 55
percent in 2008.
Sharing of intellectual
resources, between different
parts of the large company,
is one reason Toyota is choosing
to bring them all under
one big, Texas-sized roof.
“There is no question Texas is the best
state to be in,” Lentz told KERA. “I think
this area in Plano, northern Texas, is by far
the premier place in the country to be.”
An educated talent pool in the North Texas area
and a low cost of living are often cited as reasons
for companies choosing to move to the area.
Bestplaces.net estimates the cost of living is 39
percent higher in Torrance, CA, than in Plano, TX,
and housing costs are 63 percent lower in North
Texas. Like many families, Toyota also considered
opportunities for education a top priority.
“The backbone of any community is their education system,” Lentz said. “So the fact you have
great public schools in this entire area, there’s no
reason someone would have to live 15 minutes
from their work. And I can tell you today in California that’s not quite possible because of the cost
of housing.”
Educating - With Gas
With its easy accessibility from DFW Airport,
many companies see North Texas as a great place
to receive not just education for their children
– but also for their employees. Atmos Energy
Corporation, headquartered in Dallas, is one of
the country’s largest natural-gas-only distributors,
serving more than three million customers in
1,400 communities from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the
west. Atmos Energy manages natural gas pipeline
and storage assets, including one of the largest
intrastate natural gas pipeline systems in Texas,
and also provides natural gas marketing and
procurement services to industrial, commercial
and municipal customers primarily in the Midwest
and Southeast.
As one of the country’s largest gas utility
companies, Atmos takes a commitment to
safety to heart – and has created one of
the nation’s finest centers of knowledge
and education at home in North Texas.
“Our goal is to be the safest natural gas distributor in the nation,” said Kim Cocklin, president and
CEO of Atmos Energy Corporation.
Since 2007, Atmos has invested $5 billion dollars
to renew and expand its distribution and transmission systems and to improve customer service,
with approximately 70 percent of that dedicated
to increasing safety and reliability. “Our goal is
more than an aspirational ideal. It is a commitment we make to our customers, communities,
regulators and investors,” Cocklin said. “Every
10
www.ntc-dfw.org
FALL/WINTER 2015
Atmos’s hands-on approach
to training is available not only to
Atmos employees, but also
to first responders, industry
workers, SWAT and police teams
and other emergency responders
who can benefit.
employee has taken a pledge to strive to be
incident-free every day.”
One way that commitment manifests itself is in
a hands-on approach to training that is available
not only to Atmos employees, but also to first
responders, industry workers, SWAT and police
teams and other emergency responders who can
benefit from training at the Charles K. Vaughan
Center, an Atmos facility that annually is a knowledge destination for more than 3,200 visitors and
11,000 Atmos employees. The 48,600-square-foot
facility – named for Atmos’s beloved founder –
houses a service center, a dispatch department
and a state-of-the-art training facility and gas
measurement flow lab. The Southern Gas Association and the American Gas Association promote
the Vaughan Center as the industry leader in
housing a superior, state-of-the-art training facility
dedicated to the advancement and safety of the
natural gas industry. Welcoming that many visitors
each year means a location like North Texas is not
just nice to have – it’s vital.
“Our location provides convenient access to our
customer base as well as hotels, restaurants and
airports for those traveling for training,” said Sherry