Toyota Material Handling North America's newest factory in Columbus, Indiana is already rolling electric forklifts off the line, producing about eight a day with plans to ramp up to 24 daily in the coming months and a maximum potential capacity of 100 forklifts per day. The 295,000-square-foot plant officially opened Wednesday, adding more than 140 new jobs to the company's sprawling Bartholomew County campus.
Governor Mike Braun joined company leaders for the opening celebration, according to WDRB. The $100 million facility caps a project that began with a groundbreaking ceremony on May 29, 2024, under then-Governor Eric Holcomb, meaning the plant's roughly two-year construction span crossed two gubernatorial administrations, per the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.
To help launch the plant, 50 to 60 experienced employees transferred from Toyota's existing Columbus facilities to work alongside new hires filling the 140 added positions, with many of those roles filled before Wednesday's ribbon cutting, as reported by Inside INdiana Business. The company has now invested more than $600 million in its Columbus operations altogether, and Toyota Material Handling employs more than 2,100 people in the city and over 3,400 across Indiana, per the WDRB report.
Public Incentives Backed the Expansion
The project drew significant public support to land in Bartholomew County. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation committed up to $1.1 million in conditional performance-based tax credits and $200,000 in training grants, while the Columbus City Council approved 10-year tax abatements expected to save Toyota an estimated $17 million, according to the Indiana Economic Digest. In exchange, the tax deal required Toyota to retain 1,883 existing local jobs.
Toyota has produced more than 900,000 forklifts in Indiana since 1990, and the new factory represents one of Toyota Material Handling North America's largest manufacturing investments in North America since then, per WDRB. The addition also expands the company's total manufacturing footprint in Columbus to nearly 1.9 million square feet under roof across its headquarters campus, according to Modern Materials Handling.
Shifting Production Lines Between States
The new plant will build electric forklifts for both the Toyota and Raymond brands, a dual-brand arrangement that traces back to a corporate merger. In January 2025, Toyota Material Handling and The Raymond Corporation merged their North American operations into a single entity, Toyota Material Handling North America, 24 years after Toyota originally acquired Raymond in 2001, according to DC Velocity. Both brand identities remain distinct in the marketplace even as they now share Columbus production lines.
Opening the Columbus facility also shifted manufacturing of the electric Class 1 Stand-Up Counterbalanced Forklift away from the company's Greene, New York plant, freeing that facility to focus on reach trucks, order pickers, and automation, DC Velocity reports. Toyota Material Handling North America manufactures more than one in every three forklifts sold in North America, with its overall network of plants producing an average of over 1,900 forklifts per week, according to a company release carried by PR Newswire.
Riding the Electric Forklift Wave
The Columbus plant's exclusive focus on electric models lines up with a broader industry shift. Electric models accounted for 66% of North American forklift sales in 2023, reached roughly 70% of the market in 2026, and are projected to climb to an 80% share before 2035, per data cited by Modern Materials Handling. WDRB reports the new factory is expected to help meet growing demand for electric forklifts through 2030.
The building also incorporates sustainable manufacturing infrastructure, including a zero-volatile organic compound powder coat paint process and construction designed to accommodate a future rooftop solar installation, according to Modern Materials Handling. It fits within Toyota's broader zero-landfill manufacturing policy across its Columbus campus.
The opening adds to a string of major manufacturing announcements around Columbus in recent weeks. Hoodline reported on another Columbus expansion adding 100 jobs just days before Toyota's ribbon cutting, while a similar $80 million manufacturing expansion recently wrapped up in Jeffersonville. Toyota's campus was also the site of a lighter community moment earlier this month, when a 9-year-old in cancer remission spent a day running the company's Columbus headquarters.
