Holcomb, Toyota officials break ground on new $100 million forklift facility in Columbus

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and Toyota Material Handling officials break ground on a new electric forklift facility in Columbus on Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (Casey Smith/Indiana Capital Chronicle)

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and officials from the Toyota Material Handling site broke ground Wednesday on a new $100 million manufacturing facility in Columbus.

The 295,000-square-foot facility will expand Toyota’s Bartholomew County headquarters and will specialize in electric forklift production. 

Officials said they expect the facility will create up to 85 new jobs in Columbus once completed — which is scheduled for the end of 2026. The expected wage for those new positions is $28.88 per hour.

Also known as Toyota Forklift, the Columbus hub currently manufactures and distributes forklifts, pallet jacks, tow tractors, order pickers and other material handling equipment.

“It’s just a further illustration of momentum throughout Indiana — and it’s been occurring in Columbus for decades. But this is just a validation that we are on the right road ahead,” Holcomb told reporters on Wednesday. “The recipe for success is, when you talk about workforce infrastructure, the right pro-growth policies. They matter. And they ultimately matter to the families that are going to have new opportunities. I just couldn’t be prouder to see companies throughout the state of Indiana have the confidence and then make the decision to grow — and grow here.”

Including Wednesday’s announcement, Toyota Material Handling has completed more than 15 total expansions in 34 years, with over $400 million in total investments, according to the governor’s office. When the new factory is complete, Toyota’s Columbus footprint will grow to nearly 1.8 million square feet – more than six times larger than the facility it opened in 1990.

Brett Wood, the president and CEO of Toyota Material Handling North America, said the company is already “an industry leader,” building 170 forklifts per day at the Columbus facility. 

“Electric forklifts make up 65% of the North American market and this trend towards electrification in the material handling industry will continue to grow … it’s pretty exciting for us,” he said, adding that many of the company’s electric vehicles are also automated.

“We have customers asking us to automate forklifts because they can’t find forklift drivers,” he continued. “So, pretty exciting news for our industry with the electrification and automation in the future.”

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation committed up to $1.1 million in conditional tax credits and up to $200,000 in training grants to Toyota Material Handling, based on the company’s job creation and training plans. The city of Columbus offered separate incentives, as well.

“Investments like this are building stronger communities,” Holcomb said. “They’re giving families new opportunities. They are magnets for talent.”

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