This story is part of an ongoing series, Powering Change: Panasonic and De Soto. If you'd like to share your excitement or concerns about the electric vehicle battery plant, you can do so here.
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The $4 billion Panasonic electric vehicle battery plant is now months away from opening its doors at the site of the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant in De Soto, Kansas.
When completed, the plant is expected to be "the largest battery factory in the world." It is expected to produce 2170 EV batteries by early 2025.
Kristen Walters, Panasonic North America's vice president of human resources, told KSHB 41 the plan is to hire around 4,000 employees. She said they've hired around 400 so far, with a goal of reaching 1,000 employees by this summer.
Walters said the types of positions they're looking to fill range from "experienced maintenance technician roles, leadership roles across HR, supply chain, operations, and quality."
De Soto City Administrator Mike Brungardt told KSHB 41 the city is already seeing the plant's impact on its surrounding jobs and businesses, too.
Allan Swan, Panasonic North America president, said the plant's education partners include the University of Kansas, Johnson County Community College and Kansas City, Kansas, Community College.
"We're already paving the way for the next generation of innovators with training programs and hands-on skills development," Swan said in a news conference at the Panasonic plant.
Walters also told KSHB 41 they'll train "anyone who wants to be a part of what we're doing here."
She explained at the conference Panasonic is setting up maintenance apprenticeship programs with local community colleges, noting much of their hiring right now is for production team members.
Brungardt said the city is already preparing for the plant’s impact on the local economy.
"Those workers are going to come here, they’re going to shop in our stores,” he said. "They're going to buy gas at the gas stations, they're going to need those local services."
Although many of the hires are native to the Kansas City area and the state of Kansas, Walters said the plant's reach has already gone beyond the metro.
Walters said they have some transfers from the Nevada plants that will join the De Soto team, along with team members from Japan.
In the meantime, De Soto has been preparing for all that comes with a huge facility: new jobs, increased traffic, industrial growth and more.
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KSHB 41 reporter Elyse Schoenig covers the cities of Shawnee and Mission. She also focuses on issues surrounding the cost of health care, saving for retirement and personal debt. Share your story idea with Elyse.