Toyota Material Handling U.S.A., Inc. broke ground on an expansion of its Columbus, Ind., headquarters and manufacturing facility, Toyota Industrial Equipment Mfg,

Left to right: Brett Wood, president and CEO of Toyota Material Handling North America; TIEM president Toshiya Yamagishi and TMHU president Jeff Rufener.

Inc. (TIEM).

“Today’s groundbreaking event not only commemorates our new headquarters, but also celebrates a commitment to our customers,” says Jeff Rufener, TMHU president. “TMHU’s new headquarters will bring TMHU and TIEM associates together under one roof, which will combine synergies and allow us to be even more responsive to customer and dealer needs.”

The extended office space is part of Toyota’s strategic initiative, announced in April, to align sales and marketing teams with its manufacturing plant in one centralized location. TMHU’s existing Columbus office is physically connected to TIEM, the plant that builds the majority of Toyota lift trucks sold in North America. When complete in 2013, the combined TMHU and TIEM campus will total more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing and support space and house approximately 1,000 Toyota associates.

When TIEM established its state-of-the-art, $60-million lift truck plant operations in 1990, the facility covered approximately 7 acres under one roof. Since that time, TIEM has undergone 12 expansions. The campus now totals more than 1 million square feet of facilities sitting on 126 acres. Representing an investment of $118 million, the campus includes a national customer center, training center, manufacturing operations and distribution centers for equipment and service parts. The facility has the capability to manufacture a wide range of industrial equipment used in a variety of indoor and outdoor environments, including 3- and 4-wheel electric lift trucks, internal combustion cushion tire and pneumatic tire lift trucks, diesel tow tractors and DC/AC inverter assemblies for the Toyota Tacoma.