The ongoing growth of Toyota Material Handling Australia (TMHA)'s Adelaide branch was a primary reason for it to recently move from its former site to a brand-new 12,000m2 facility in Gepps Cross, South Australia.
The state-of-the-art facility was opened in May and VIPs in attendance included South Australian Government treasurer, the Hon Rob Lucas MLC, and TMHA Chairman Toshi Nakazawa and President & CEO, Steve Takacs.
TMHA general manager - Branch Operations South, Hamish Harper, said in his time with the branch he has watched it move from strength-to-strength. "We worked in the old facility for over 25 years and have been GM for the last 10, and in that time I have watched its steady growth," said Mr. Harper. "Growth in our people and growth in our product lines - our offering is vastly increased from what it was a decade ago, even a few years ago. The Adelaide branch has had the full line of TMHA products for years."
Mr. Harper said TMHA Adelaide's growth has been tracked in market share. "We've gone from a mid-twenties market share 10 years ago to our present market share, which is in the forties, so inevitably we required infrastructure to match increased demand.
"There were constraints on the volume we could put through our workshop before and we now have vastly increased resources to meet growth in equipment sales and our rental and servicing requirements."
In comparison, the new facility dwarfs its 7000m2 footprint/4000m2 building size predecessor, as Mr. Harper explained: "Our new facility here in Gepps Cross has 1000m2 of office space incorporating a new-unit showroom to showcase the vast breadth and depth of our product range, and a dedicated training facility," he said.
"We also have a dedicated parts area with its own entrance. Parts are very important to our business and we needed to ensure easy accessibility for our parts customers.
"Our new state-of-the-art 5000m2 workshop area, accompanied by another 6000m2 of hard-stand area for loading and unloading, is impressive - especially given it's three times the size of our old workshop. That's a huge difference for us. It gives us the ability to service over 4000 forklifts that we have under service and rental."
Additional features of the workshop include a new on-site spray booth, a wash-bay that uses recycled water, overhead gantry and storage space for the branch's short-term rental fleet. "We also have more work-bays for our staff which means we can work on our customers' equipment more efficiently and hopefully return it quicker than ever before," he said.
Mr. Harper said further time savings have been gained by bringing the storage of new machines onto the same site as the pre-delivery workshop. "The former site operated two distinct buildings: one being the main facility where we had our sales force, undertook repairs, and our parts operation. The other was basically a predelivery facility for equipment such as forklifts.
"Now we have increased the speed of machine delivery by consolidating the two and bringing the storage of new machines onto the same site as the pre-delivery workshop.
"We now have only one workshop and all our other functionality is in the same envelope. Being able to have all services available under the one roof allows us to service our customers more efficiently and effectively."
Customers will not have to travel far from the previous Cavan Road location to experience the benefits of the new facility. "Our new location in Matthews Road is only around the corner from our old facility, which is handy for our customers as they'll have the general location familiarity.
"Matthews Road is off one of the main arterials in Gepps Cross, Wakefield Road, from where you can't miss our new signage. We're still twenty minutes' drive from the city, right in the heart of Adelaide's industrial area. It's also a central location from which we can get to our customers for service requirements."
After many years of planning, Mr. Harper is thrilled to be in the now officially opened facility, along with his staff, whom he thanked for their contribution to the project, along with input from TMHA branches, nationally.
"We're very excited to be here and seeing our new facility in action. Everything is modern, clean and new - as is befitting of Toyota Material Handling's image and expected of a market leader.
"We have opened a facility that can meet all of the contemporary needs of our customers who demand not just a supplier of equipment but a full provider of systems and services. It's a demonstration of our commitment to our customers and we think they will be very pleased with our new location and experience.
"We have lots of parking for customers and staff. Customers are enjoying our new amenities including a dedicated area where we can have a coffee with them and discuss their needs. It's an enhanced customer experience."
TMHA's state-of-the art Adelaide facility was recently opened by South Australian Government treasurer, the Hon Rob Lucas MLC (cutting ribbon), TMHA President & CEO, Steve Takacs (opposite), chairman Toshi Nakazawa (far left) and general manager - Branch Operations South, Hamish Harper (far right).
