Upright Expands in Pacific Rim

May 1, 2000 12:00 PM, RENTAL EQUIPMENT REGISTER STAFF

Seeking to boost its presence in the Pacific Rim aerial lift market, Upright Inc. opened an equipment rental operation in Japan in April, and will add a customer-support center in Singapore this summer.

Upright Japan Kabushiki Kaisha is based in Tokyo with an office in Osaka and is headed by Masashi Sakuma. Sakuma was sales manager at Sacos Corp., which recently sold its distribution rights for the Upright product line back to the manufacturer.

In July, Upright will open an international support center in Singapore, followed later in the year by a parts depot. District manager P.B. Lim will oversee the new center. Upright opened a similar center in Rotterdam, Netherlands, last year.

Upright, based in Selma, Calif., also owns international distribution operations through Instant Access Australia and Instant Access New Zealand.

Toyota to Buy BT Industries The parent company of Toyota Industrial Equipment Products, a division of Toyota Motor Sales based in Torrance, Calif., has made a public offer to buy BT Industries, a Swedish manufacturer of material handling equipment. The offer is approximately $890 million.

BT Industries' board of directors is reportedly in favor of the acquisition, which would make Toyota Industrial, manufacturer of lift trucks, tow vehicles and other material handling equipment, a full-line supplier.

"BT Industries can provide us with warehouse equipment products and enable us to expand our product offering in Europe and North America," said Tadashi Ishikawa, CEO of Toyota Automatic Loom Works, the Kariya, Japan-based parent of Toyota Industrial.

BT Industries has production facilities in Greene, N.Y.; Muscatine, Iowa; and Brantford, Ontario.

I-R to Market SDMO Generators Ingersoll-Rand Co. has formed an alliance with French generator manufacturer SDMO Industries. Under terms of the multiyear agreement, I-R, based in Mocksville, N.C., will offer SDMO generators between 15 kva and 500 kva through its existing global distribution channels that serve rental and construction markets.

SDMO, Brest, France, is a worldwide manufacturer of stationary and portable generators.