New Opportunities Lead to Success
As we begin 2023, we’re setting aside time to reflect and celebrate the year that was 2022. Last year, Takeuchi saw unprecedented growth in many areas. We were able to start the process of increasing production with the new facility in Moore, SC as well as the groundbreaking of our new excavator production facility in Aoki-Mura, Japan. We introduced the new TB335R reduced tail swing excavator, in addition to our first battery-operated excavator, the TB20e. While these are all great accomplishments, the most exciting thing to me was the addition of new employees. Takeuchi-US invested in more human capital than ever before, adding new employees to our distribution operations in Pendergrass, Ga., as well as our production facility in Moore, SC. I am constantly impressed by the talent that Takeuchi is attracting in all areas of our business.
When employees reach 90 days with Takeuchi, I sit down and spend a few minutes with them, trying to understand who they are, what got them to Takeuchi and how they like it so far. I have not had one interview in 2022 where I was not impressed by the person we hired. Single parents, first-generation college graduates, immigrants to the US, folks starting second careers – the list goes on and on. Takeuchi-US even has a partnership with our local Corrections Dept on an inmate work-release program. No matter how they got here, these individuals are now part of the growing Takeuchi family, dedicated to serving our customers in the “Takeuchi Way”.
It excites me to see the new faces in each facility, offering Takeuchi another perspective on how to improve ourselves in our quest to provide better machines and better support.
Each year, we issue a new challenge coin to our employees that memorializes that year’s focus. The 2023 challenge coin has Safety, Quality and Capacity written on the back. This year, we are challenging employees to be as safe as possible, produce quality in anything they touch and increase their capacity, as well as that of the company, for greater growth and production.
As I continue to say, growing Takeuchi’s presence and market share in the United States is a marathon, not a sprint. That said, Takeuchi picked up the pace in 2022, and I see us doing that again in 2023 with several new machine introductions in the US, increased production capacity and the awesome new employees who have joined our team of industry leaders.
Finally, I want to thank each of you. All the changes, growth and record-breaking achievements would not have been possible without the help of our Dealer and National Account partners, and most importantly, our customers. I want to extend a sincere thank you from Mr. Takeuchi, the Board of Directors and myself for helping us achieve the success we did in 2022. Rest assured, we are not sitting around patting ourselves on the back, but putting our boots on and coming to work to serve you even better in 2023.