Toyota Material Handling Europe (TMHE)’s Bologna factory celebrates its 70 th Anniversary

by Toyota Material Handling EU on 2012-09-05 02:18:37

Today, the TMHE Italian plant is proud to have provided the European market with high quality material handling equipment for seven decades

CESAB Carrelli Elevatori S.p.A., one of the three TMHE production centres, was founded in Bologna, Italy, in 1942. This site stretching across 26,000 m² and employing 378 people designs and manufactures 1.0- to 8.5-ton electric and internal combustion counterbalanced lift trucks. The factory also operates a spare parts centre that stocks more than 13,000 separate parts, deliverable to customers within 24 hours.

From its first electric lift truck in 1951 and the first diesel-powered model in 1954 to the introduction of electronic control, Bologna factory has constantly upgraded and diversified its electric range. This is where the renowned Toyota Traigo 24, Toyota Traigo HT and the iF-award winning Toyota Traigo 48 are produced.

The Italian plant’s evolution and present success has been greatly influenced by the implementation of the world famous Toyota Production System (TPS), a unique method of organising production, in 2001*1. Along with other key factors such as flexibility, quality production and services and focus on technological innovation, TPS reinforced the Bologna factory’s reputation as a top quality forklift manufacturer.

“Today, our growth as a Toyota factory has been made possible thanks to the synergic relationships developed within the group. The strength of the Bologna plant resides in being both a supply unit and an excellent technological centre,” says Ambrogio Bollini, Vice President Supply at TMHE.  

With 70 years of experience in a competitive business, the TMHE Bologna factory has brought undeniable contribution to the material handling industry and is looking forward to future challenges.

*1 Toyota Industries Corporation acquired BT Industries in July 2000, right after the latter had acquired CESAB.

About Toyota Material Handling Europe
Toyota Material Handling Europe (TMHE) helps businesses of all sizes across Europe meet today’s materials handling challenges with a full range of Toyota counterbalanced forklift trucks, BT warehouse equipment, and services and added value solutions, including service contracts, short term rental, used trucks and the Toyota I_Site Fleet Management Solution. Active in more than 30 countries across Europe and with headquarters in Sweden, TMHE has a European Office in Brussels and production centres in Ancenis (France), Bologna (Italy) and Mjölby (Sweden).

With about 5,000 service engineers, around 8,000 employees, along with a network of independent distributors and dealers, TMHE is the European regional organisation of Toyota Material Handling Group (TMHG), which is part of Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO) – the global leader in materials handling equipment. For more information on TMHE, visit www.toyota-forklifts.eu.