David Fernandes
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama President David Fernandes watches as a team member works on an engine on the plant floor.
((Toyota))
By Jennifer Statham for AL.com
David Fernandes was excited to move to Alabama in 2016 for his promotion to vice president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama Inc., but he says he had no idea, his boss, James T. "Jim" Bolte was secretly grooming him to take over as president so soon.
Bolte, who had been with the Toyota plant in Huntsville since it opened in 2003, was named president in 2009, making him the first American to lead a Toyota plant. He was involved in the community through several organizations and well-known in the North Alabama area. He now serves as the group vice president for manufacturing efficiency at Toyota's North American PE & Manufacturing Center in Georgetown, Kentucky.
David Fernandes
"Funny story, Jim knew that I was actually replacing him but I didn't. So for the last year Jim's job was basically to get me ready for replacing him as the president. So when I arrived here, in Huntsville, I spent a lot of time with Jim, not only here at the plant but also meeting a lot of the community folks outside that he had built relationships with over the years," Fernandes said.
Fernandes left Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Inc., where he served as general manager over the powertrain division, for the promotion to vice president at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama in January 2016. He said he joked with his wife, Hillary, several times about how many assignments Bolte had given him, and how Bolte had sent him to Japan six times.
"I didn't know what he was really doing. Then after the announcements came out and I was promoted, I could clearly see that the whole time he was developing me and getting me ready for the new role that I would be doing. That just kind of shows you Jim's leadership style, and that he was making sure that the plant was going to be ready for someone else to take over while he went on to bigger and better things. It really prepared me for what I'm doing now."
Fernandes graduated from Purdue University in Indiana with a bachelor of science in business administration and a bachelor of science in human resource management. He currently serves on the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Business Council of Alabama Board of Directors, BCA Manufacturing Advocacy Council and the Committee of 100. He moved to Huntsville with his wife and two daughters. They have one son attending college in Indiana.
As president, Fernandes is responsible for all manufacturing and support functions at the plant, where they produce four, six, and eight-cylinder engines. He said he is looking forward to leading the plant to many milestones, like Bolte did, but most importantly carrying on Bolte's impactful care for team members and their community.
"Jim always preached about how our team members here are our biggest asset. So, everything we do is to support our team members that are out there making engines every day. Because, you know, people like Jim and myself aren't out there building engines, right. So supporting those team members to make sure we make engines the safest and, obviously, the best quality product that we can produce. I think that's the one thing that sticks with me, going forward — my No. 1 job is to support our team members out on the shop floor," Fernandes said.
Manufacturing Milestones
Fernandes is joining a plant that has achieved many milestones quickly. Toyota, located in Chase Industrial Park in northwest Huntsville, celebrated 15 years in Alabama in 2016, building their 5-millionth engine in February. Under the leadership of Bolte, Huntsville was the first Toyota plant outside of Japan to produce the four-, six-, and eight-cylinder engines all under one roof. Since the beginning of production, the plant has expanded four times, and invested $864 million.
"That's pretty incredible to do that in such a short period of time. We couldn't do that, obviously, without our team members here at the plant that are so dedicated to safety and quality and making sure we make the best products for the customer," Fernandes said.
A recent study from the Center of Automotive Research found that Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama Inc. is making a major impact on Alabama through strong job numbers, payroll and capital, and philanthropic investments.
The CAR study, released in March, said when direct employees of Toyota "are combined with jobs at companies that supply Toyota Alabama, as well as spin off positions, Toyota is estimated to support 9,700 jobs in Alabama." The study also said for every one employee in Toyota's U.S. manufacturing-related operations there are an additional 6.1 jobs in the U.S. economy.
The plant produced 702,000 engines in Huntsville in 2016, exporting 250,000 engines to Canada, and 100,000 engines to Mexico. The plant currently builds 3,000 engines a day, and supports six of Toyota's 12 vehicles produced in North America, making Alabama one of the largest Toyota plants globally.
Toyota has invested $22 billion in its U.S. operations and has committed an additional $10 billion over the next five years to support its plan to build vehicles where they are sold.
"We've been the beneficiary of their philosophy that they need to be more engaged and producing in the United States," Chamber of Commerce Huntsville/Madison County President Chip Cherry said. "They've been very consistent in that. If you look at the total investment for this facility, it's hovering around $840 million and they're employing 1,400 people, and that's just a small picture of what they're doing nationwide."
Driving the Workforce
Fernandes' vision of the future is driven by helping the current team members adapt to new technology, and preparing the next generation of workers. To sustain the jobs in the area Toyota has to supply an educated workforce and be competitive, he said.
"Going forward, I think a big part of it is getting our plant ready to adapt to change, because the automotive industry is changing drastically, shifting from gasoline engines to future, more efficient engines," Fernandes said. "The world is changing drastically, manufacturing is changing drastically we also need to have a workforce that is adaptable and ready to embrace that change going forward in the future."
Fernandes is proud of the "great relationship" Toyota has with the community, and credits much of the success here with community involvement with and the connections made through the Chamber of Commerce.
"(Fernandes) seems to fit in real well with the team there, and I think he's going to be a really strong addition to the community and we're very glad to have him," Cherry said. "Toyota is a wonderful success story. It's one of those things that people just really don't realize the impact...Toyota has been a phenomenal corporate citizen."
Toyota is helpful in talking with other advanced manufacturing companies the chamber works with who are considering locating in the Huntsville area. Its leaders can speak with companies about their first-hand experience in Huntsville, and the benefits of being in the state, such as the Alabama Industrial Development Training incentive.
It also showcases the work ethic of the community, and the culture of the company and how the employees have participated in that, Cherry said.
"The Chamber of Commerce is just such a great partner for us," Fernandes said. "I think just the collaboration between the different companies and the Chamber is amazing compared to what I've seen in some of the states. I think that's a big piece of why Alabama has been so successful, especially here in this Huntsville area."
Cherry said Toyota's huge draw of applicants during each hiring wave reiterates that Huntsville, and Alabama in general, have the supply of people to provide a sustainable workforce for new companies.
Toyota currently takes full advantage of the AIDT program through the Department of Commerce. The state incentive program provides "quality workforce development for Alabama's new and expanding businesses." AIDT serves as a pipeline for 100 percent of the Huntsville plant's full-time employees.
"I think without that program it would very difficult to create a workforce that's ready for the huge employment that we've seen in the Alabama area, but specifically in our general location here. I think one thing that allows companies to expand, and attract new business is having that workforce that is ready to go," Fernandes said. "I think having that program is instrumental because we're basically committing, as a state, that we will have employees that are ready to take on these new jobs that are coming. The onboarding for our company, for example, you've got to have those individuals ready to come basically trained and understand what the environment is going to be like that they are going into, in order to be successful in this kind of environment."
Toyota has also partnered with Calhoun Community College in 2014 to develop the Alabama Federation for Advanced Manufacturing (F.A.M.E.). The collaborative, currently consisting of 12 local companies, supports the Advanced Manufacturing Technician program (AMT) which blends classroom instruction with on-site work experience. The AMT program allows students to gain industry experience and "hit the ground running," Toyota-Huntsville analyst Kim Ogle said.
"Toyota and all of these other companies are working together to recruit students into this program, and each of these companies, including Toyota, will sponsor, it could be one student all the way up to four, five, six, per year, depending on their capacity, to work at the plant and to go to school," Ogle said.
"They're making enough money to pay for their education. So, the goal is to have them completely job ready. They have the ability to graduate completely debt-free and ready to go to work in a very high demand job where there's currently a gap. We have a great partnership with Calhoun and with the other manufacturing industries in North Alabama to make this work."
Community-minded
Fernandes said Toyota believes giving back to the communities where its team members and customers work and live is a priority. Since locating to Huntsville, Toyota has donated $7 million to local nonprofit organizations, with $800,000 invested in 2016 alone on education, environmental initiatives, health and human services, diversity, and arts and culture, Fernandes said.
Additionally, the plant supports the community through volunteer opportunities and community board participation. Right now the management team members are part of 25 nonprofit boards in the area, a legacy started by Bolte which will continue, Fernandes said.
"We don't just cut a check and hand it over. Financial support is certainly important to help organizations service the community, but we are very committed to getting involved through volunteer teams," Ogle said.
Toyota partnered with PPG in March for the Colorful Communities project. Team members volunteered as painters, gardeners, and landscapers on the Constitution Hall grounds. The company also donated $100,000 to help in the effort to ready the Alabama Constitution Village for its bicentennial celebration.
Toyota has also sponsored Village of Promise since 2015, through the Toyota Family Learning grant. The program's mission is to end "transgenerational poverty for the children and families of its surrounding neighborhood in Huntsville, Alabama."
Toyota's philosophy, Ogle said, is to not only build great cars, but great communities.
Highlights of current Toyota sponsorships include three stations for the recently installed BlueBikes, a bike share program currently with six stations located throughout the city, and a donation of $50,000 to the Huntsville Library Foundation to fund the New North Huntsville Library, located on Sparkman Drive.
Upcoming events, for 2017, that Toyota will be involved with include Panoply, the Whistle Stop Festival, and the Downtown Huntsville Inc. concert series.