Toyota is shuffling some of its manufacturing executives in part to backfill after it named Sean Suggs, president of its assembly plant in Mississippi, to a new role at headquarters this year.
David Fernandes, 51, will become president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi, succeeding Suggs, who is now a group vice president for social innovation, based in Plano, Texas. The Mississippi plant builds the Corolla.
Fernandes had been on a temporary assignment as senior vice president for manufacturing with sister company Toyota South Africa Motors and previously was president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Alabama.
Jason Puckett, 47, has been named the new president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Alabama, which builds the automaker’s four-, six- and eight-cylinder engines. Previously, Puckett was vice president for administration at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana.
David Finch, 54, who had been in a temporary role as president of the Alabama engine plant to oversee a $288 million expansion effort, will return to Toyota South Africa Motors as senior vice president for manufacturing, Toyota Motor North America said.
