A few months ago, I was asked to speak to a high school reunion in Georgetown. I won’t say how many years these folks were celebrating . . . suffice it to say I was the youngest person in the room, by several years.
But it was great to be back in Georgetown to see people I have known all my life and to hear some fun stories about Georgetown and its people from many years ago.
I grew up in Georgetown with a Banker Dad and a Kindergarten Teacher, turned Business Owner Mom. Reflections on Toyota is what these reunion folks wanted to hear from me. They wanted to hear from “little Helen Marie” – to this day, if folks call me Helen Marie, I’ve likely known them all my life.
So, here’s some of what I shared about 27 years with Toyota.
As I think back over 27 years, there are moments that certainly stand out . . . like seeing that very first Camry roll off the line back in 1988 . . . and having a hand in how Toyota dollars would be used for so many good causes across the state.
But today, I want to share a few things that weren’t necessarily printed in the Georgetown News Graphic . . . things that didn’t make it to the 6:00 news.
As I began my Toyota job, back in 1987, I entered a strange new world of not only manufacturing, but a new culture about which I needed to learn. Every division of the company had what were then called Japanese Coordinators. The Coordinator in my life was Hiro Adachi – today, Hiro and I are good friends . . .but, we didn’t necessarily start out that way.
Being the young, enthusiastic new team member that I was, I thought it would fun and exciting to learn Japanese – why not, I thought! Hiro quickly set me straight . . . . he told me that at 32, I was too old to learn Japanese!
As I was learning about the company and about the Japanese culture and customs, I soon learned that our Japanese colleagues were not really sleeping in meetings . . . they closed their eyes to be better able to focus on what was being said and to show appreciation and consideration for what was being said.
As soon as I learned that, I used it on occasion . . . when my eyelids just got too heavy sitting through a long meeting. . . .
What a different world we live in today was demonstrated by Mary Ellen Slone, owner of Meridian Communications, a PR firm we worked with in the early Toyota days. In a meeting, Mary Ellen was asked to fax a proposal to a Japanese executive. She left the meeting and immediately called someone at her office to find out what a fax was.
Nila Wells, my good friend and past Toyota colleague, was the 36th person hired for the Georgetown plant. She was hired to assist the first Japanese president, Mr. Fujio Cho.
Nila taught Mr. Cho “My Country Tis of Thee” after his first Georgetown Rotary Club meeting. In the open office environment, I can still see Mr. Cho in his chair, rolled up to Nila’s desk, learning the words to the song and singing them proudly.
Nila and I welcomed an elderly lady from Cynthiana to the plant because she had never seen a Japanese person and wanted to meet one. She met Hiro and thought he was wonderful.
After being caught on security video changing his shirt at his car, Nila had to tell Mr. Cho he could not change his clothes in the parking lot.
I had the opportunity to travel to Japan several times during my time with Toyota. But, many people, particularly those on the production side of the business, travelled to Japan multiple times every year.
Here’s a story from one of the production folks who travelled frequently to Japan . . .
I was attending a service parts conference in Japan early 1990’s, with team members from Georgetown, Canada and California. I had been to Japan a couple of times and thought I knew my way around.
On the weekend, the guys from California wanted to walk to the train station and take the subway to Nagoya. They asked me if I could walk them there. I quickly became lost and had no idea the direction I needed to go.
I approached a car at stop sign and leaned over to the driver, slowly explaining that I worked for Toyota and asked if he could point me in the direction of the train station.
He asked, “Are you from Kentucky?” I said yes and he of course said “KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN” with a thumbs up.
I again asked if he could point me in the right direction and then he did something I would soon come to see over and over in my travel to Japan.
He went above and way beyond just being nice…
He quickly shooed his wife and two small children out of the car . . .put them on the sidewalk and motioned for me and the two California guys to get in the car. . . he would drive us to the station.
We all protested this was too much but he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
After he had dropped us off at the station, helped us buy our tickets, put us in the correct line, he also waved goodbye to us as the train pulled out.
I asked the guys from the West Coast if they’d ever experienced anything like this in California.They both replied “Yes, but there’s usually a gun and it’s called carjacking !!!!!!”
As I wrapped up my remarks to these folks, I was able to share an update about the new Lexus plant being built at the Georgetown plant.
In case you’re interested in this exciting addition to manufacturing in Kentucky . . .
*The Lexus Assembly Plant building is complete, a $360 million investment.
*Equipment installation is underway
*About 250 team members have been hired so far, with a goal of 750.
*A Lexus training area is now operational.
*The model to be built is the Lexus ES350.
*First trial vehicles are scheduled for production in March-April.
*SOP (start of production) is on target for September 2015.
*The plant will build 50,000 a year, bringing total plant capacity to 550,000.
NKyTribune columnist Helen Carroll, interim president of the United Way of Kentucky, retired from Toyota in 2014 after 27 years of service.. She is a resident of Northern Kentucky and owner of Carroll Project Planning LLC. She is also a board member of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence. Email: Helen.Carroll@uwky.org