Toyota now has more than 1,000 York Township employees dedicated to conducting engineering services on vehicles for the North American market. Early on in its expansion project, the Japanese automaker displayed a canny understanding of how to cultivate talent and acquire engineers fresh out of college.

Toyota established a two-year internship program for recent engineering graduates at schools like the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Lawrence Technological University and the University of Wisconsin. At the end of the two-year period, the automaker and the employee reach a mutual decision about whether the employee should continue working there.

Bruce Brownlee, senior executive administrator for external affairs for the Toyota Planning Center at the Toyota Technical Center, has said the company generated a “large pipeline” for engineering talent by leveraging the internship program.