Our opinion: TG Missouri building toward a bright future

Good things are happening at TG Missouri in Perryville.

A division of Toyoda Gosei, a Japanese manufacturer of automotive components, TG Missouri is the largest employer in Perry County with about 1,600 personnel. It opened in 1987. Employees make steering wheels, airbags, side molding and interior and exterior plastic trim components for customers in the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico and Taiwan as part of the organization that operates more than five dozen companies in 17 nations. The company’s North American headquarters is in Troy, Michigan.

In December, company officials announced a planned investment of $97 million to expand the Perryville facility. The expansion will accommodate new equipment and further automate the plant.

More recently, Toyoda Gosei launched a companywide effort to incorporate renewable energy solutions at all its locations.

In Perryville, that will include installing solar panels to offset electricity usage. TG Missouri is partnering with a green energy provider who will install the equipment. The plant will use the power but not own the equipment, according to previous Southeast Missourian reporting.

While the solar panels will not fully power the plant, every little bit helps. That project will start later this year, and officials expect to complete it in 2027.

Those initiatives are good for TG Missouri and good for Southeast Missouri. As one of the region’s largest manufacturing employers, the company is an important cog in our economic gears.

Aside from the direct economic benefits of expanding operations and offsetting electricity costs to TG Missouri, these projects will indirectly benefit the region. Construction, maintenance and supply jobs will flow from these investments in TG Missouri’s future.

Congratulations to TG Missouri’s leadership and employees! We look forward to many more years of success stories.