60 seconds with Brett Wood, ITA

Brett Wood;
Industrial Truck Association
Title: Chairman, Industrial Truck Association; President & CEO, Toyota Material Handling North America
Location: Washington, D.C. (ITA); Columbus, Ind. (Toyota)
Experience: A 26-year veteran of the lift truck industry, Wood has previously served as chairman of the ITA’s General Engineering Committee. He is also currently a member of the MHI Board of Governors and MHEDA’s Manufacturers Board of Advisors.
Duties: As ITA chairman, Wood works with the executive board to determine the strategic direction of the industry association. He is also responsible for building a consensus behind that strategic direction and providing a voice to the association’s position on industry issues.

Modern: How did the lift truck industry fare in 2014, and do you have any insight into sales through the first half of 2015?
Wood: Last year was a very good year. The market was strong in all five truck classes with total North America sales exceeding 200,000 units. That represented 8% growth over the prior year. And, 2015 has been and remains a very promising year. Recent economic activity, as well as positive forecasts for the remainder of 2015, has put us on track to meet or exceed the 2014 results. Our healthy industry is also a reflection of our economy in general, as lift trucks and materials handling equipment are the heart of the overall supply chain process.

Modern: Our cover story this year is on the lift truck of the future. When you look across the industry, how do think the lift truck is evolving?
Wood: Safety is always a top priority. We will continue to see improvements in product designs, but we also need to ensure that safety programs extend beyond the forklift itself. Operator training, pedestrian awareness, object detection and metrics to measure safety should all be considered priorities. The ITA’s National Forklift Safety Day was designed with this in mind and helped create awareness around safety and the safe use of lift trucks. In terms of trends and products, OEMs will continue to support the growing electric lift truck market. Lift trucks will also become more “connected” and telematics will help customers analyze their fleets and operations more effectively. Technology innovation in automation will continue to improve, and as a result, we expect to see more automation and integrated solutions.

Modern: Last year, we looked at managed services, including the way one leading OEM was managing spare parts inventory. Are maintenance services becoming more important to end users than a lift truck’s specifics?
Wood: Yes, customers are becoming more service-oriented and want more turnkey solutions. They are looking beyond the purchase price of a piece of equipment, like a lift truck, to a total package. Areas of fleet management and full maintenance continue to grow in popularity and solutions selling vs. equipment selling will help differentiate the leading OEMs.

Modern: One of the biggest issues facing the automation side of the materials handling industry is the availability of skilled technicians to maintain increasingly complex systems. Is the lift truck industry also grappling with a shortage of skilled technicians? 
Wood: Workforce and labor issues are constant challenges for our industry, here and abroad. For example, there is a significant shortage of skilled technicians throughout all dealer networks. This is a shame, as our industry offers a competitive wage rate, good benefits and a stable work environment. We need to tout these qualities and more to attract the next generation of skilled labor at the lift truck dealers and at our factories.

Modern: When you look at the future of the industry, what excites you the most? 
Wood: The overall innovative and dynamic products our industry constantly introduces to the supply chain world keeps me excited about the future. We offer solutions in the materials handling and logistics industry that support our country’s economic growth and activity. As we strive for ever-increasing efficiencies through new technological innovations such as the Internet of Things, Big Data analysis and autonomous vehicles, keeping at the forefront and leading change is exciting. M