TCM in the USA

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1940's - 1950's

In the late 1940’s, an industrial boom began to take place in Japan.  At the time, there were no fork lift truck companies in the Far East, and very few outside of the United States. However, the cost effectiveness of the unit load concept began to be widely understood and the material handling industry as we know it was born.

In 1949, Toyo Umpanki Manufacturing Company LTD, established itself and produced Japan’s first fork lift truck.  Using dynamic marketing and a program of continuous product innovation and improvement, the original "Toyo Carrying Machine” secured virtually its entire home market.

The outstanding success of the TCM product drew other domestic Japanese manufacturers into the material handling equipment business. In order to continue growth despite increasing competition in Japan, Toyo Umpanki began its expansion into the international marketplace. They worked with traditional major trading companies including Mitsui & Company, and developed several licensing and technical agreements with companies including the Cascade Corporation (attachments), Joshua Shaw LTD. (side loaders), and Clark Equipment (wheel loaders). As a result, the company has become a major materials handling product supplier in the global fork lift truck market.

1960's - 1970's

In 1961, after changing its name to Toyo Umpanki Co. LTD., TCM was listed on the first board of major Japanese Stock Exchanges. Clark Equipment became a stock holder in TCM for a period of time, providing capital and technical knowledge still valid today.

TCM fork lift trucks were introduced in the United States market by Toyo Umpanki in 1965. This initial distribution effort was launched from St. Louis, Missouri.  In 1976, Mitsui & Company assumed responsibility for distributing TCM products to the United States market.TCM America MBK, Inc. was incorporated and headquartered in Bridgeport, New Jersey.

This operation began one of the most successful marketing efforts in the history of the material handling industry. TCM first established a major dealer network to distribute and service its products. A number of Fortune 500 companies became good customers, and some now operate fleets of more than 200 units. A major continuing customer was the U.S. Government who once placed a single order for over 1,000 trucks.In January of 1990, TCM America MBK, Inc. turned into Mitsui Machinery Distribution (MMD).

1980's - 1990's

To meet demand, In September 1988, Toyo Umpanki Co. established TCM Manufacturing, USA Inc. (TMU) in West Columbia, South Carolina. TMU began producing forklift trucks early the next year. In 1992, it was named South Carolina’s Manufacturer of the Year. TMU had the capacity to manufacture over 5,000 lift trucks (1.5 – 4.5t) annually. The facility is located in a 165,000 square-foot building on a 43-acre parcel of land near Columbia, the capital of South Carolina.

1999 marked Toyo Umpanki Co.’s 50th anniversary and they celebrated this event by changing their name to TCM Corporation.  TCM Corp. is recognized world wide as a leader in research and development in both lift trucks and other material handling products. They use the latest technology as well as product experience and customer input to continually improve their products. The tradition of quality has become the trademark of every TCM lift truck and material handling product manufactured.

In June of 2005, TCM formed TCM USA Holdings (TUH) and acquired the forklift business from MMD.  TCM Distribution USA, Inc. (TDU) was established in Swedesboro, New Jersey to distribute and support products in the United States.  TDU supported sales, marketing, and technical services in the Northeast and Midwest regions of the US for the entire line of TCM fork lift truck products. Also in June of 2005, TCM became a subsidiary of Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. LTD.

In April of 2007, TUH acquired C-Itoh Industrial Machinery (CIM) and established TCM Forklift Trucks (TFT) to support sales, marketing, and technical services in the South and Western regions.

In 2009, the three US companies (TUH, TDU, and TMU) merged with TUH being the surviving company.  Its name was changed and TCM America, Inc. (TCMA) emerged. The corporate office for the new TCMA was the TMU facility in West Columbia, SC.  The newly formed TCMA had some difficult decisions to make due to the global recession and the dramatic decline in the US forklift business. Plans were made to consolidate everything into one location.

In early 2010 both TCMA-Houston and TCMA-New Jersey were closing their doors. In March of that year, TCMA – South Carolina discontinued manufacturing operations and began converting the facility to take over the sales, marketing, and services operations. Today, the new streamlined operation is functioning well.  Plans are being made to resume production in the near future and to expand the business in the US market.