DC Velocity - May 2012

newsworthy

ground breakers

Intelligrated, a North American-owned automated material handling solutions provider, kicked off a new office construction project at its Mason, Ohio, headquarters with a ground-breaking ceremony on Jan. 30. Intelligrated will relocate administrative personnel into the new building to accommodate a planned expansion in engineering, customer service, and research and development staffing and testing facilities. The company has also relocated its Dallas-based Southwest regional operations to expanded facilities in Coppell, Texas. … Forklift manufacturer Crown Equipment Corp. has opened its first company-owned branch location and administrative offices in Spain. The new Crown office, in Madrid, will coordinate all business activities within Spain. It has also opened a new branch in Duluth, Ga. … Interstate Warehousing is planning a 140,000-square-foot expansion to its Franklin, Ind., cold storage facility. … Penske Truck Leasing has opened a truck collision repair center in Annapolis Junction, Md. The center handles collision, box, and trailer repairs; complete vehicle refinishing; and frame and alignment work for commercial trucks and vehicles.

Toyota moves headquarters

Toyota Material Handling, U.S.A., Inc. (TMHU) said it will relocate its North American headquarters from Irvine, Calif., to Columbus, Ind., where it will be housed adjacent to the Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing (TIEM) lift truck assembly plant.

The company said it would close the Irvine office, where it has been located since 2002.

TMHU says the relocation will begin this fall and be completed over a multiyear period. TMHU has 72 employees in Irvine and 53 at the Columbus office. In its announcement, TMHU said it had offered relocation to the majority of the Irvine employees.

The company said the move aligns with the goals of its parent company, Toyota Industries Corp., which has conducted similar relocations in Takahama, Japan, and Mjölby, Sweden.

TMHU is a major supplier of lift trucks to the North American market. Most of those are manufactured in the TIEM plant in Columbus, which opened in 1990. ;