Toyota Chooses A&E Firm for San Antonio Assembly Plant Schedules Five Design Build Bids

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated, Houston, Texas). Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America (NYSE:TM) (Erlanger, Kentucky) has recently announced the selection of SSOE Incorporated Architects-Engineers (Toledo, Ohio) as the lead design firm for its new San Antonio assembly plant (Plant 1059632). As part of the contract award, SSOE partnered with the San Antonio-based architectural and engineering firm of Marmon Mok LLC. SSOE was selected from Toyota's short-list of four design industry giants, which, besides SSOE, included Albert Kahn Associates, (Detroit, Michigan), Arcadis (Highlands Ranch, Colorado), and Giffels (Toronto). Toyota's Senior Vice President, Dennis Cuneo, said the decision was a difficult one, due to the number of extremely qualified firms from which Toyota had to choose.

In February 2003, Toyota announced that it had selected a 2,000-acre site in south San Antonio, off Applewhite Road, between the Medina River on the south and Leon Creek on the north, for the $800 million plant. Toyota has said it will make every effort to protect the ecologically sensitive area. The new 1.5 million square-foot plant will initially produce 150,000 Tundra full-size trucks annually, and will include metal stamping, body weld, painting, plastic injection molding, and assembly operations (PEC 01009223). Initially, there will be no engine plant at this facility, since Toyota just opened a new engine plant in Alabama this year.

According to a spokesman for SSOE, the scope of work for the project includes design of the plant's grading, foundation, structural steel, utilities, heating and air conditioning, the metal stamping and plastic injection molding areas, and the body weld and assembly shops, as well as an administration building and on-site cafeteria. SSOE also designed Toyota's first manufacturing facility in continental Europe, as well as Toyota's Princeton, Indiana, assembly plant (Plant 1027928) in 1996, which assembles the Tundra full-size pickup, the Sienna minivan, and the Sequoia full-size SUV.

Toyota expects to use fifteen prime contractors, who, in turn, are expected to employ 150-300 specialty subcontractors. The company has stated that it plans to use local contractors wherever possible, regardless of union affiliation status. Toyota will serve as its own construction manager, and there will be an on-site owner's representative office, which will directly oversee construction activities, according to company policy. Toyota will also contract other services, such as quality control, temporary offices, surveying, etc, through a direct-bid process.

Individual general contractor contracts will be bid out on a Design/Build basis and will cover five areas.

Click on the image at right to view the five G/C contract areas and associated bid dates.

Toledo, Ohio-based SSOE is a privately-held company and has provided nationally-acclaimed architectural and engineering services for 55 years, and has a strong background in serving the automotive and other industries. Engineering News Record magazine has ranked SSOE among the top 10 design firms serving the automotive industry.