200,000 and counting

When a four-wheeled internal combustion cushion tire lift truck rolled off the assembly line at Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing's Columbus, Ind., plant last month, it marked the 200,000th lift truck produced at the facility. But the ceremony held to mark the occasion turned out to be something more than a celebration of booming production; it did double duty as a groundbreaking ceremony as well.

At the event, which was attended by top Toyota officials—including Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing president Yoshimitsu Ogihara and Dr. Shankar Basu, president and CEO of Toyota Material Handling, U.S.A., Inc.—the company announced expansion plans for the Columbus facility, which manufactures 87 percent of the electric and internal combustion engine lift trucks sold in the United States by Toyota Material Handling, U.S.A., Inc. Plans call for the facility to be expanded to 859,023 square feet from 750,223 square feet. Completion is scheduled for early 2005.