City leaders and council members visited SMC Corporation and Toyota Automated Logistics, or TAL.
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen is back in Indiana after leading an international economic partnership trip to Japan.
City leaders and council members joined the visit to SMC Corporation and Toyota Automated Logistics, or TAL.
“Japanese culture is really dependent on relationships,” Jensen said. “They believe in the back-and-forth relationship building.”
SMC is Noblesville’s largest private sector employer, headquartered off 146th Street. According to the city, “SMC is a leader in pneumatic technology, providing industry with technology and products to support automation based on the guiding principle of contributing to automation labor savings in industry.”
Meanwhile, TAL is in the middle of moving its headquarters for the Americas to Noblesville, just a few minutes from SMC.
“Between those two companies, that’s $400 million in investment just in Noblesville alone,” Jensen said. “Indiana is the number one state per capita for Japanese investment in the country. 71,000 hardworking Hoosiers get up every day and go to work for Japanese companies.”
During the week-long visit, Jensen and city leaders toured facilities for each company.
“We’ve seen a lot of robots,” Jensen said. “We’ve seen a lot of automation research here, learned about their long-term plans for investment in the United States and Indiana.”
City of Noblesville officials visit Japan
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The investment in Indiana dates back to the 1980s under the guidance of Lt. Gov. John Mutz. According to Jensen, Mutz made 11 trips to Japan when Indiana only had four Japanese companies. Now, Indiana is home to more than 330 Japanese companies.
“They ended up with about 78 by the time they were out of office eight years later,” Jensen said. “So a lot of credit goes to John Mutz, who is still living today and a proud Hoosier. He took a big risk back in the ’80s to start this conversation.”
SMC and TAL offer high-wage jobs for Hoosiers, according to Jensen. He says TAL is bringing 600 existing jobs and planning to hire hundreds more over the next five years.
Jensen says this trip was outlined in the city’s budget after several months of planning.
“I’ve been to Asia twice, but my first time to Japan and certainly not my last,” Jensen said.
The following city representatives attended the Japan trip:
Mayor Chris Jensen, City of NoblesvilleMike Davis, Noblesville Common Council PresidentAaron Smith, Noblesville Common CouncilSarah Reed, Community Development DirectorLexie Rock, Communications DirectorAndrew Murray, Economic Development DirectorAli Krupski, City Engineer
AloJapan.com