Toyota assembly plant ready for construction

SSOE Inc., one of the nation’s largest architecture and engineering firms, recently completed site design for the new Toyota assembly plant in Blue Springs, Miss.

This is the largest site work and earth moving project that Toyota has ever undertaken in the U.S. It is a civil engineering feat that requires moving 16 million cu yds of earth in order to make the site level enough to construct Toyota’s newest assembly plant on the site.

Contractors began moving the earth on Sept. 1, coinciding with the start of foundation and structural steel construction. SSOE is providing full architecture and engineering services for the facility, which will produce the Toyota Highlander sport utility vehicle beginning by 2010. These services include civil, structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical, fire protection and chemical process design.

The Blue Springs, Miss., earthwork package represents four times more earth moved in less time than any other Toyota project in North America. SSOE engineers faced the challenge to develop a plan to move enough dirt to fill an average NFL football stadium approximately 25 times.

SSOE employed an integration of NavisWorks 3D/4D Design Review software and Bentley InRoads road and site design software to help shape the site before and after the civil engineering portion of the project. SSOE was able to effectively integrate results from the InRoads site evaluation with the virtual building design model to arrive at a single 3D model reflective of both.

The 2.4-million-sq-ft facility that will be constructed on the 1,700-acre site is expected to be operational by 2010 and house 2,000 employees. At a total cost of approximately $1.3 billion, the facility is expected to produce 150,000 vehicles per year and will include stamping, welding, painting and assembly.