Toyota today announced that Tatsuo Matsuura will become chief executive officer (CEO) and Susumu (Sonny) Toyoda will become president and chief operating officer (COO) for Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing (TIEM). Both Toyoda and Matsuura will join the TIEM and Toyota Material Handling U.S.A., Inc. (TMHU) board of directors, where Matsuura will serve as chairman.
Matsuura also recently assumed the position of executive vice president for Toyota Material Handling Group (TMHG). In his new roles at TMHG, TIEM and TMHU, Matsuura will be responsible for Toyota’s North American lift truck sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution. As president and COO, Toyoda will be responsible for overseeing the U.S. manufacturing facility for Toyota lift trucks in Columbus, Indiana.
Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., TMHU offers a full line of Toyota-brand lift trucks. In 2005, for the third consecutive year, Crist Information & Research ranked Toyota as the largest supplier of lift trucks in the United States.