BUFFALO, W.Va. — Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia has announced plans to establish another amenity for employees at their Putnam County facility. The company plans to construct a child care and early learning center to offer those services to employees during their shifts at the plant.
“As young parents, they have challenges in making sure they’ve got good care for their children while they’re trying to be employed at not just Toyota but anywhere, childcare is a big concern for them,” said Toyota West Virginia President David Rosier.
The Buffalo facility will be the fourth learning center to open up in recent years at Toyota operations in the United States. Toyota North Carolina opened their center earlier this month. Toyota of Mississippi will have one open before the end of the year. The Alabama plant will see a new childcare learning facility next year and the Buffalo facility will open in 2027. The company’s main assembly plants in Kentucky and Indiana have had on-site childcare development for many years.
“In the manufacturing environments where our shift structures are quite diverse, being able to find child care on those diverse schedules is also a challenge,” said Rosier.
The on-site child care center will be open to children whenever the plant is in operation. Currently Toyota runs two shifts.
“What we find is a lot of our employees end up having to count on family members to support them, but if you don’t have that kind of network available to you then it becomes a real barrier,” he added.
The Buffalo Learning Center will have room for 120 children per shift. Although the location will be on the Toyota campus in Buffalo and built, owned, and managed by Toyota, they will contract companies to operate the facility. The private management will also provide the teachers for the center. Along with daycare, they’ll also offer learning opportunities for STEM and other programs for the children to help get them started with a strong foundation to enter school. They will also provide aid those who are in school already with additional help with school work during off hours.