Modern Materials Handling - April 2010

This is all interesting news tothose of us who follow the comingsand goings of the lift truck industry.But the question remains: “Whynow, after all these years?” The onlyperson to answer that question withauthority is James Malvaso, TMHNA’snew president. So, we asked him toexplain the significance of this newsto customers and dealers.Modern Materials Handling: What’sthe significance of making thisannouncement on March 22, 2010—a decade after Toyota acquiredRaymond?James Malvaso: At that time, it wasacknowledged that the two companiesneeded to coordinate. Insteadof forcing things right away, we decidedto let things evolve. I see thisannouncement as the natural resultof that evolution. It’s the logical nextstep. You start acknowledging eachother’s existence, you work a little bittogether, you start to see benefits,and as you get more comfortableyou combine the visions of the organizationsinto one and operate asone great company.MMH: How will this affect productlinedevelopment?Malvaso: Given the economy and theamount of volume available in themarket, this is a very difficult time tospend significant resources on newproduct introductions. With that said,the electric truck side has gained alarger percentage of the market thanin the past. Motor and control technologieshave evolved nicely, andthere will be more dialog betweenour research and development organizationsto look for commonality in components and see if wecan reduce our manufacturing costsand design costs.There will be a continued emphasison the information side of thebusiness. Raymond’s iWarehouse isan example of customers’ desire toknow more about their operations. Idon’t think that will go away. But atthe industry level there can be lessemphasis on product and more onthe value that the manufacturer anddistributor can bring to the customersto help them reduce operatingcosts.MMH: Through this announcement,what’s the message to your dealersand what are their concerns, if any?Malvaso: The Raymond dealers areless concerned than the Toyota dealers.I’m a known entity in the Raymondworld; and although they knowme in the Toyota world, they don’tyet know how I operate. I’m telling10 A P R I L 2 0 1 0 / MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING m m h . c o m