Toyota announced on Thursday that it will invest $170 million to outfit its Blue Springs, Mississippi, assembly plant with a new production system to build the 12th generation Corolla.
The implementation of the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA), along with an increase in production, is expected to create 400 new jobs at the plant over the next year.
In 2017, Toyota announced it would invest $10 billion in its U.S. operations over five years.The Mississippi announcement brings the amount invested to $4.27 billion.
Improvements in the Mississippi plant will include a complete replacement of production lines, "allowing the facility to produce advanced vehicles more efficiently and better adapt to changing needs," the company said in a press release.
TNGA, implemented beginning in 2015, is a series of technology, design, equipment and operations changes intended to make production more efficient. Changes include building more models on common platforms, increasing the versatility of production lines and minimizing unused space.
