WOOD COUNTY, W.Va. — “The epitome of what employers should strive to be” is how the executive director of the Wood County Development Authority is describing Hino Motors Manufacturing as the company marks a decade in Williamstown.
“The team members at Hino are dedicated to not only producing a good product, but they’re dedicated to being good community members,” said Lindsey Piersol, executive director of the Wood County Development Authority.
On Tuesday, she was on hand as Hino marked its 10th anniversary with a celebration at the Williamstown assembly plant for Hino’s medium-duty trucks where production started in July 2007.
Also in attendance were Governor Jim Justice; Yoshio Shimo, president of Hino Motors Ltd.; Yoshinori Noguchi, chair of Hino Motors Manufacturing USA; 1st District Congressman David McKinley (R-W.Va.) and other state officials.
Piersol toured the facility, with its 245,000 square feet of production space, with West Virginia Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher.
During a ceremony, 21 Hino workers, called “team members,” who were among the original 70 hired a decade ago were recognized.
Hino now employs 300 people in Williamstown.
“Those 300 jobs are so crucial to our area,” Piersol said.
“They make sure that they pay their employees well, they have benefits and not all employers can or will do that so I truly can’t say enough good things about Hino.”
Based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, Hino Motors Manufacturing USA is a subsidiary of Hino Motors, Ltd. and sister company to Hino Motors Sales.
In addition to assembling trucks in Williamstown, the companies manufacture automotive parts in Marion, Arkansas and operate parts centers in Mira Loma, California and Gahanna, Ohio, according to company information.
In Wood County, the Hino assembly plant produced its 25,000th vehicle in Oct. 2013 and its 50,000th vehicle in early summer 2015. That was the same year the plant expanded.
Company officials report production growth of 500 percent there during the past ten years.
“I’m not sure what their exact plans are for the future, but I look forward to working with them on that continued growth and being a support in whatever way that I can,” Piersol said.