Lift trucks: Toyota announces management changes

Toyota Material Handling, U.S.A. (TMHU) and Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing (TIEM) have announced management changes including the appointment of Martin Boyd to vice president of product planning and marketing for TMHU and Tony Miller to vice president of production engineering, design engineering, manufacturing and maintenance for TIEM.

“These executives bring Toyota an extraordinary blend of leadership combined with material handling industry expertise,” said Brett Wood, president of TMHU. “[Both] will be instrumental in continuing Toyota’s leadership in quality and product development initiatives for the number one selling lift truck brand in America.”

Boyd formerly served as the company’s national product planning and marketing manager. During his 11 years at Toyota, he has played a significant role in key product launches including the Toyota 7-Series and 8-Series lift truck model lines and has helped establish strong relationships within the Toyota group of companies (TICO, TIEM, Raymond Corp. and Cesab), international Toyota distributors, suppliers and strategic partners. Boyd has been instrumental in the development of TMHU’s automated solutions and automated guided vehicle (AGV) business as well as TMHU’s introduction of the Aichi line of aerial work platforms (AWP) products.

As a member of the Industrial Truck Association (ITA), Boyd has served as chairman of the air quality subcommittee and currently represents Toyota on the general engineering committee.

Miller previously served as TIEM’s senior manager, production engineering, manufacturing and maintenance at the Columbus, Ind.-based facility, which manufactures the majority of Toyota lift trucks sold in the United States. He assumed responsibility for the manufacturing and maintenance departments in 2009, reporting directly to TIEM’s president.

Miller, and his team, won the TICO President’s Award for their achievements in assembly line consolidation and the plant’s launch of Toyota’s new 4-wheel AC electric lift truck. Throughout his career, he has identified and implemented “kaizen” continuous improvement measures on the plant floor, which are instrumental to the Toyota Production System practiced at TIEM.

Miller joined TIEM in 1996 as a production engineer and has held several positions in the production engineering department. During this time, he was influential in leading TIEM’s upstart of hydraulic cylinders, hydraulic hosing, laser cutting and sheet metal forming.