4 DC VELOCITY DECEMBER 2013 www.dcvelocity.com
inbound
Do we know how to pick ’em? Back in 2004, we chose Alan F. Estevez
as a DC VELOCITY Rainmaker. At that time, he was assistant deputy
under secretary of defense (supply chain integration), with responsibility for developing global supply chain management and distribution policies and processes. Since then, the capable Estevez has
received a steady stream of promotions, and on the last day of October
was confirmed by the Senate as principal deputy under secretary of
defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics.
In his new position, Estevez—who moves up from assistant secretary of defense for logistics and materiel readiness—takes on a greatly
expanded portfolio. He’ll support the under secretary of defense in all
matters related to acquisition; logistics and materiel readiness;
research and engineering; nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons;
operational energy; installations and environment; and the defense
industrial base.
How high up does this take Estevez? “This is the inner circle of the
Office of the Secretary of Defense,” says Editor at Large Steve Geary, a
longtime consultant who specializes in defense logistics. ;
Rainmaker on the rise
Here’s our monthly roundup of community service projects and
donations by companies in the logistics, transportation, and material
handling space:
▪ Toto is donating bathroom fixtures to help more than 2,000 families in Oklahoma rebuild their houses after they were damaged or
destroyed by tornadoes in May. RoadOne IntermodaLogistics is providing logistics support for the 900-mile shipment from Toto’s facilities in Fairburn, Ga.
▪ Idle Smart will donate a percentage of each sale of its idle-reduc-tion solution to Hope for the Warriors, which assists service members
who have sustained physical and psychological wounds in the line of
duty as well as military families.
▪ Jervis B. Webb Co. hosted a FIRST (For Inspiration and
Recognition of Science and Technology) Lego League scrimmage and
demonstration at its facility in Wixom, Mich. Two teams, both coached
by Jervis B. Webb Co. employees, participated in the scrimmage.
▪ The American Society of Transportation and Logistics (ASTL)
presented the 2013 L.L. Waters Scholarship to Chelsea Miller, a senior
at Penn State University. Miller is majoring in supply chain management and holds leadership positions in Penn State’s APICS and
CSCMP chapters.
▪ OnTrac is teaming up with Phoenix-area radio station KNIX to
host the Million Can Crusade. The initiative hopes to collect 1 million
cans of nonperishable food for St. Vincent de Paul to help Arizona’s
hungry families during the holiday season.
▪ Clark Material Handling Co. dealers ordered 42 special pink
“Raising Hope” four-wheel pneumatic forklifts and made donations
to support this year’s Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure event in
Lexington, Ky. ;
Good deeds
Toyota Material Handling U.S.A. Inc.
(TMHU), the sales and distribution arm
for Toyota lift trucks, and Toyota
Industrial Equipment Manufacturing
(TIEM) on Nov. 4 celebrated several
achievements, including the grand opening of TMHU’s new North American
headquarters, at TIEM’s plant in
Columbus, Ind. The plant manufactures
more than 80 percent of the Toyota lift
trucks sold in North America.
TMHU moved its headquarters from
Irvine, Calif., to Columbus as part of a
strategic initiative to better align sales and
marketing with manufacturing by co-locating them. A large percentage of the
employees in California have chosen to
move to rural Columbus, said TMHU
President Jeff Rufener.
The new headquarters represents a $4.6
million investment and adds 21,400
square feet to the campus, which totals
more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing, administrative, distribution,
training, and customer service space.
The day included the official “line off”
ceremony for Toyota’s new large-capacity
8-series trucks. Nearly 1,000 employees
and guests gathered in the factory to
watch the first of the muscular new trucks
drive briskly out from behind a curtain to
a cover version of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole
Lotta Love.”
Executives also showcased Toyota’s
newest lift truck manufacturing plant, in
São Paulo, Brazil. TIEM is the “lead plant”
for the new facility; its employees are training their Brazilian counterparts in production engineering, manufacturing, quality
assurance, and production control. TIEM
Indiana will also supply about one-third of
the São Paulo plant’s forklift parts. ;
“Party time” for Toyota
lift trucks
