Toyota Material Handling is the World’s largest materials handling company. Toyota customers benefit from global capability, national coverage and local support.
Commercial Director at Toyota Material Handling
Toyota offers a single point of contact for all your materials handling needs. From a single truck user to large fleet users, we have the products and services to be a strong business partner. Toyota offers unrivalled levels of support, consisting of world-class products, fleet management, short-term hire, operator training, genuine parts and unbeatable sales and service support.
Products include counterbalance forklifts, pallet trucks, stackers, order pickers, tow tractors, reach trucks, racking, telemetry, shuttle systems and automation.
Jon Buckley, Commercial Director at Toyota Material Handling spoke to Warehouse & Logistics News.
What products or services does your company offer?
Toyota is very well known for its comprehensive service, offering a vital service supporting a wide range of materials handling equipment and keeping forklift fleets operating at peak efficiency to customers across the UK. We’re just as well known for our award-winning warehouse equipment and counterbalance forklift trucks – everything from our legendary BT Lifter hand pallet truck through to our latest cutting edge automated trucks.
At our heart as an organisation is the World famous Toyota Production System (TPS) from which we derive many of the lean principles by which we operate as a business.
Which industries do your customers operate in?
As the need for materials handling is universal and constantly evolving, we work with a diverse range of customers from virtually all sectors. Our product range covers a wide spectrum of needs from general material handling through to specialised uses, so we have a broad appeal. Because our customers reflect the economy at large, if a particular sector is growing well, we will see that reflected in the demands placed on our organisation.
Do you have any examples of a project you have recently completed?
There are a couple of interesting examples that come to mind, we’ve just completed a very large automation project for a drinks warehouse that uses over 20 of our automated reach trucks – it’s fascinating to see it in operation. One that I can mention by name is our recent supply of lithium battery-powered pallet trucks into Sainsbury’s stores all across the UK. They recognised the productivity increase that comes from powered pallet trucks and in particular, the use of lithium-ion as a power source. We’ve seen a lot of interest in horizontal pallet transporting as companies seek to reduce the manual workload and improve efficiencies.
How did the Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdown affect your business?
Like virtually all organisations across the UK, Toyota had to rapidly adapt to the changing situation with some roles having to work from home. However, other parts of our company had to continue operating as normal as possible. We have hundreds of engineers in the field which worked without rest to keep the UK moving. Likewise, our parts support and workshop colleagues worked throughout the various local and national lockdowns. We always saw these teams as our ‘key workers’, just like the NHS and other key services, we owe them all a huge debt of gratitude for their stoicism and commitment.
Did Covid-19 have a negative impact or did the increase in online shopping actually result in a boost to your business?
There’s no doubt that Covid-19 impacted our business, as it impacted most businesses. The market contraction was very sudden and dramatic early on, but we were pleased to see volumes return steadily over the late summer and into the autumn.
Is your business back to normal following the Covid-19 outbreak?
We’re working hard to provide as normal a service as possible, and our teams have been very adaptable and customer-focused despite the challenges. We are still adapting our approach with Kaizen (continuous improvement) on an almost daily basis to improve our safety processes, our communications and our customer service.
Going forward, will the industry be permanently changed as a result of Covid-19 or will it return to how it was pre-Covid?
It’s incredibly difficult to make this kind of prediction, I think my observation is that in many different aspects of industry and life we’ve all identified new digital ways of doing things. I believe that some of that change will stick long term and it will mean aspects of industry might be changed. This digitalisation of communication and processes had already started pre-Covid, but the virus has accelerated this change.
What products or services will you be introducing in the next year?
We have a busy programme of new truck launches, new systems launches and enhanced services for 2021 – I can’t wait to tell you about them!
In what areas are you making technological advances?
Toyota Material Handling has always invested heavily in research and development. We continue to innovate in forklifts and most recently in the automation sector, equally, there is a lot of technology development feeding into the area of energy with new Toyota Lithium-Ion cells and telematics such as our I_Site telemetry system. I_Site is hugely popular because of the data it generates and the awareness it gives to fleet managers. We continue to continuously improve I_Site making the platform even more useful, informative and even engaging for drivers.
What training do you provide for your staff?
Kaizen is a core value at Toyota and as such, we take continuous improvement seriously. The idea of constantly improving is something that we apply to our premises and the skills that our teams have. We already have a very well trained team, but we never standstill. We are always working to develop and enhance our leaders and our team members skills through training, as we feel this feeds directly into the quality of our customer care.
What is the company’s commitment to social responsibility?
As you would expect, Toyota takes social responsibility and sustainability very seriously. We are always active in this area, the best demonstration of this effort is that we have just been awarded ‘Ecovadis Platinum’ status here in the UK, from a CSR perspective placing us firmly in the Top 5% of companies in the World.
What improvements have you made to your customer service recently?
Most notably, we continue to develop T-Stream, our mobile support platform for Toyota technicians. This benefits our customers by making our technicians even more efficient, as they are now able to diagnose and repair truck issues, order parts, train, and communicate even more quickly. We also have applied Kaizen to our customer service, sales and rental processes to improve them by taking regular Net Promoter Score (NPS) feedback directly from customers. Be it feedback regarding an online purchase, an interaction with a salesperson or on the response to a breakdown call: We ask, we listen and most importantly, we continuously improve.
Are you helping customers boost the level of automation in their business?
Of course, but it is important to say that we don’t believe in automation for automation’s sake. In many cases, a customer may assume automation is a panacea for their logistical challenges but, the fact is, they may make bigger gains through simply increasing the efficiency of their operations at a much lower complexity level. One size rarely fits all when it comes to automation. We find that a ‘step-by-step automation’ approach and matching our offer precisely to the customer requirement works best.
Do you help customers maximise the use of their existing warehouse space?
Absolutely, our offer includes a complete racking design service which is ideal if a customer is fitting out new premises. We offer very narrow aisle trucks and high lift reach trucks – each of which can allow an increase in storage density. We also see a lot of interest in our shuttle racking solutions that can dramatically increase storage efficiency.
Will you be investing in your premises over the next 12 months?
Yes, we continue to expand and develop our network to make great work environments for our team members and fully equipped centres for customer visits and demonstrations.
What industries do you believe offer your business the most potential over the next year?
That’s difficult to answer as we already support businesses in many different areas. We have a wide range of material handling solutions and vast experience of implementing them. We can help to resolve most material handling challenges.
How future proof is your business?
Toyota Material Handling has a long heritage and a great track record of innovation and development to the benefit of our customers. I’m certain that our Toyota values and our clear focus on delivering ‘Quality in Everything we do’ will serve us and our customers well, way into the future.
Will you be exhibiting at any major trade shows over the next year?
We would normally participate in a number of shows each year, but due to the pandemic, it’s very difficult to predict if interactions in a mass gathering situation will be in our customers’ interests. We’ll continue to monitor and review our position regularly.
How would you sum up your company in three words?
Safety; Quality; Kaizen
TOYOTA
0370 850 1409
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