New Toyota president weighs in on self-driving pizza delivery, Alexa-equipped cars

Susan Elkington, previously a senior vice president, was promoted to president of the Toyota plant in Georgetown late last year.

Elkington, who has two decades of experience with the company, became the first woman president of the company’s largest plant which employs more than 8,000 full-time and part-time workers. She recently shared some insights about herself and the future of the plant she manages.

ApplePlay and Alexa coming to a car near you

Coming this spring, the new 2019 Toyota Avalon will be equipped with Apple’s CarPlay and Alexa, Amazon’s digital assistant. With Alexa, drivers can lock and unlock their doors, start their engine, check the fuel level all by using their smartwatch or Amazon Alexa-enabled device.

“We’re really broadening the options of our vehicles,” Elkington said, noting the numerous grades and colors Toyota’s vehicles come in.

The Avalon will also be equipped with Apple CarPlay, which is a console that allows drivers use their iPhones in the car without picking up their phone.

The plant is in the trial phase of building the 2019 Avalon, which means employees are already learning how to build the cars and Toyota is testing the car quality before it is released to the public.

Toyota’s future: Self-driving pizza cars and electric vehicles

On the global scale, Toyota has announced numerous concepts, such as designs of a self-driving concept vehicle called the e-Palette. Unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the vehicle would deliver pizzas to people and possibly serve as a “mobile kitchen.” Elkington could not say if the Georgetown Toyota plant would be involved if it came to fruition.

“I cannot tell you,” she said. “Needless to say, I will do my best to make it to where they consider the Kentucky facility to do those type of things.”

Toyota also plans to create 10 purely electric vehicles by the 2020s. Elkington had a similar answer on whether her plant would be involved.

“When you’re looking that far out, you don’t know exactly what our production is going to be. The important thing for our facility is to remain as flexible as we possibly can,” she said.

Elkington did note that the Georgetown Toyota plant currently produces hybrid versions of the Avalon and Camry.

Attempted unionization

There have been numerous attempts to get a union established at Toyota. One Facebook group, “Tmmk Organizing Unity” had 455 members as of Jan. 30, many of whom support creating a union at the Georgetown Toyota plant. Unionization received even more attention after Bloomberg News ran an article late last year about an internal video featuring Wil James, the president of the Toyota plant in Georgetown before Elkington, telling Toyota employees they need to cut costs.

Unionization at the plant isn’t necessary, Elkington said.

“If our team members want to join a union, that’s always the choice of the team members, but my philosophy and Toyota’s philosophy is that we want to make sure that we always have open communication. And there’s not a need to have an outside representation,” she said.

Elkington said she plans to do that by being accessible, answering questions and giving employees valuable work.

Elkington’s work history

Elkington joined Toyota in 1998. Before that, she was working as an engineer near her hometown of Huntingburg, Ind. Elkington received word that Toyota was going to open a manufacturing plant in Princeton, Ind. to build the company’s first full-sized pickup truck.

“They hadn’t named it yet,” she said. “The Tundra hadn’t been named yet, so it was just going to be a full-sized pickup truck.”

Elkington applied, not convinced she would even get the interview because her knowledge about building trucks was limited. But, she was, and then she was hired on as an assembly production engineer.

“The building was just built. There was no equipment inside the facility,” she said.

Elkington worked 16 years at the Indiana facility, leaving as the vice president of manufacturing. During Elkington’s tenure there, the plant produced the Toyota Sequoia, Toyota Sienna and Toyota Highlander. The Tundra ceased production at the plant in 2008.

Elkington was assigned to work for three years at the global Toyota headquarters in Japan after her time in Indiana. While she was in Japan, she visited several Toyota plants around the world. Toyota management told Elkington that when returned to the states, she would likely not go back to Indiana. Although she didn’t know at the time, Elkington would end up working at the Georgetown facility about 200 miles away. She started in January 2017 as senior vice president.

The first woman president of TMMK

Since becoming president of the Georgetown Toyota plant, Elkington has been asked numerous times about how she feels being the first woman president at the plant. Her response?

“I don’t know how not to feel,” she said.

She is inspired by other important Kentucky woman, she said. Elkington wants to carry on the legacy of Martha Layne Collins, Kentucky’s first and only woman governor who served from 1983 to 1987. Toyota came to Georgetown under Collins’s tenure, and Elkington said Collins’ gender might have helped with that.

“We’re a little bit unforgettable,” she said. “When everybody else looks one way in the room and you look a little different, you stand out.”

Elkington called the Georgetown Toyota plant the flagship for the company, and it’s for a good reason. The plant is the largest Toyota has in the world out of about 50 manufacturing plants and is the home of the Camry, one of the best selling cars in America for about the past 15 years.

“It’s a plant that Toyota is very proud about and it’s a big honor to be able to serve as the president here,” she said.

Outside Toyota

Elkington has already gotten involved in the Central Kentucky community. She is a board member of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and has made Lexington her home. When she is not managing Scott County’s largest employer, she enjoys the arts scene.

“Lexington and the Scott County area have so many opportunities from an arts standpoint,” she said.

Elkington is a foodie, she said, and has sampled Windy Corner Market and Wallace Station Deli, both owned by chef Ouita Michel.

Elkington has also developed an appreciation for the scenery around the Bluegrass.

“The countryside is beautiful here,” she said.

This story was originally published February 4, 2018 at 10:45 AM with the headline "New Toyota president weighs in on self-driving pizza delivery, Alexa-equipped cars."