Workforce development strategies on display at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky
Cleveland Fed president and CEO Beth M. Hammack toured Toyota Kentucky’s massive plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, to hear about the company’s workforce development strategies.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK) is the car maker’s oldest vehicle assembly plant in North America and its largest in the world. With TMMK’s employment at nearly 10,000, it’s no wonder the company has made it a priority to ready and retain the plant’s workforce.
Toyota’s 1,300-acre vehicle assembly campus in Georgetown, Kentucky
Cleveland Fed president Beth Hammack toured the expansive facility on June 2, 2025. She talked with plant managers about their operations, with a focus on how Toyota puts a premium on workforce development. Among Hammack’s questions: What are the company’s biggest labor market challenges? Answer: recruiting and retaining skilled workers.
Hammack talks with Maura Smith, general manager of vehicle production with TMMK
On the 1,300-acre campus in Georgetown, Kentucky, TMMK managers pointed to their investments in training for current and future employees as central to their business outlook. Over the plant’s nearly 40 years of operation, the company has invested $110 million locally in career readiness.
Hammack learns about the body weld stage of the manufacturing process with Smith
A key new initiative for TMMK is the 4T Academy (Team, Teach, Together, Toyota) with Scott County schools. The program provides high school juniors and seniors with a line of sight into a manufacturing career. 4T Academy follows a state-approved curriculum for traditional high school classes while also training students in a simulated factory environment. Terrell Foley of Toyota explained that the company launched the program because “students aren’t aware of opportunities now and in the future.” Seniors earn about $18 an hour while working in the program.
There is also emphasis on upskilling TMMK’s current employees. A 20,000-square-foot, $3 million onsite training center teaches team members about new technologies and advanced manufacturing processes.
Hammack asks TMMK’s Carter Hall about robotics training at the Toyota Maintenance Training Center
About President Beth M. Hammack’s Around the District tour
President Hammack is visiting communities across the Fourth District as part of her Around the District tour to meet and connect with the people who live and work in all corners of the region and to gain a better understanding of how the economy is working in different communities. The Cleveland Fed, with branches in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, serves an area that comprises Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia. Hammack will use this information to inform her policy views and better represent the Fourth District around the Federal Open Market Committee table.
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Beth M. Hammack
Beth M. Hammack is the president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, one of 12 regional Reserve Banks in the Federal Reserve System.
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