Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing (TIEM) and Toyota Material Handling, USA (TMHU) have announced plans to integrate into a single business unit by January 2020. The new company will be called Toyota Material Handling, Inc. (TMH).
The announcement was made during a company-wide meeting January 9. The business will remain in Columbus, Indiana, and report directly to Toyota Material Handling North America (TMHNA). Leading TMH will be President/CEO Jeff Rufener, and Senior Vice President Tony Miller.
“Our goal is to have a stronger, more unified, corporate culture around our material handling business,” said Brett Wood, President/CEO of TMHNA. “As one company we will be more efficient and more responsive to our associates, suppliers, dealers and customers.”
Integrating TMHU and TIEM is the next step in a progression of events and actions that started in 2014 when TMHU completed a three-year relocation of its headquarters from California to Indiana.
“We successfully combined our service parts business in 2017, and as we considered other synergy opportunities, it became clear that a complete consolidation of the companies was our best next step,” said Rufener. “Integrating our teams will improve the flow of information to and from our customers, so we can deliver exactly what they need when they need it.”
The full integration will be complete by January 2020.
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About Toyota Material Handling
Toyota Material Handling offers a full line of material handling products proudly assembled in the United States, including forklifts, reach trucks, order pickers, pallet jacks, container handlers, automated guided vehicles, and tow tractors, along with aerial work platforms, fleet management services, and advanced automation engineering and design. Toyota’s commitment to quality, reliability and customer satisfaction, the hallmark of the Toyota Production System, extends throughout more than 230 locations across North America. For more information, visit ToyotaForklift.com.
