Mitsubishi and Jungheinrich form company to make lift truck components

Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America Inc. (MCFA) and Jungheinrich Lift Truck Corp. will create a company that makes industrial parts in a bid to their cut lead time for manufacturing forklifts, the firms said.

Called Industrial Components of Texas LLC (ICOTEX), the new company will manufacture industrial components and supply parts primarily for MCFA itself, which produces forklifts at its Houston manufacturing plant. The announcement was made last Thursday.

The Houston plant is currently supplied with parts both from outside suppliers and in-house production, MCFA said. By switching to ICOTEX as the sole supplier, MCFA will free up additional capacity for new products and additional growth on its existing Houston campus. The venture could also generate revenue from outside sources. As ICOTEX ramps up its production, it will be open to providing components to additional customers as well as its parent company, MCFA said.

The joint venture is also intended to improve quality control and shorten forklift manufacturing lead times, ICOTEX President Reinhild Kuehne said in a statement. Kuehne has been with Jungheinrich for more than 25 years, holding manufacturing and engineering management roles in Europe, the U.K., China, and the U.S.

Scheduled to open in late summer of 2017, the business will be located in a 71,000-square-foot facility now under construction in Conroe, Texas, about 40 miles north of Houston. At its full capacity, ICOTEX will produce more than 600 different types of components, and hire an estimated 80 employees, MCFA said.

MCFA and Jungheinrich are already partners in the region, with Houston-based MCFA serving as the provider of Germany-based Jungheinrich's lift trucks and narrow-aisle products in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.