Manufacturing milestone
Takeuchi-US produces 10,000th compact track loader at South Carolina facility.
In September 2022, Takeuchi opened its first production facility outside Asia in Moore, South Carolina. It was a whole new venture for Takeuchi, and one that required a great deal of planning, expertise and enthusiasm.
Just two short years later, the 10,000th compact track loader (CTL) rolled off the line at the Moore facility. Takeuchi’s Moore employees signed the interior engine cover of the 10,000th CTL, making it a once-in-a-lifetime purchase. That milestone machine, a TL12R2 model, was then shipped to Takeuchi dealer, Bennet Equipment & Supply, and sold to Scott Childress of SEC Construction in Greenville, South Carolina.
“Our employees are very proud to have produced so many machines in a relatively short period of time,” said Ralph Wabnitz, director of factory operations for Takeuchi-US. “This achievement also means a lot to this region. Takeuchi has become a major employer in Spartanburg County, and we’re intent on being good corporate citizens who give back to the community as much as we can. It seems appropriate that this 10,000th machine will stay in this area where it was built with so much pride.”
Producing 10,000 machines in two years is certainly a major accomplishment, and getting there required many on-site peptalks and encouragement from Takeuchi’s headquarters in Nagano, Japan.
“We constantly pushed forward, trying to get better and more efficient each month,” Wabnitz said. “I give a lot of credit to our employees. Every month, we asked them to do better, to do more. And we’ve achieved every goal management presented us with, from manpower to production quality to safety.”
The past two years spent ramping up the South Carolina facility harken back to the Takeuchi Way, the company’s corporate motto and business philosophy which emphasizes quality, customer satisfaction and environmental sustainability. Mr. Takeuchi’s overall message is to put employee safety and product quality as top priorities, without exception.
“We started out with just 11 employees,” Wabnitz says. “Now, we’re up to 146. We kept ramping up every month. The labor market in South Carolina is extremely challenging, with an unemployment rate of just three percent, making it difficult to find the right employees with the ideal skillsets and attitudes. But we’ve assembled a great team, and they’ve made incredible strides over the past two years.”
Now that the Moore facility is almost fully staffed, the team there is manufacturing all five of Takeuchi’s current track loader models. Since production started in September 2022, the team has increased the number of units produced each month.
“In the near future, we plan to start manufacturing a brand-new CTL model,” Wabnitz says. “We’re excited to start building this new machine, and we think it will generate great demand here in the U.S.”
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