Toyota’s South Australian forklift
branchwins president’s award
Toyota Material Handling Australia’s South Australian forklift branch TMH (SA) has won
the Toyota Material Handling Australia (TMHA) President’s Award for Excellence.
TMH Torque
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It is the second time the South Australian
branch has won the prestigious award in three
years, the first being won in 2009.
TMHA president and CEO Terry Unnai
presented the award to general manager
South Australia Hamish Harper at a gala dinner
at Sydney’s Westin Hotel earlier this month.
On the same night, TMH Brisbane branch area
sales manager Daniel Ford won the highest
individual prize - the Top Gear award for the
Sales Target Incentive Guru (previously known
as the Top Gun, Sales Society Award).
TMH (SA) is the official South Australian
branch for the Toyota Industrial Equipment,
BT Lift Truck and Raymond Forklift product
ranges, as well as Toyota’s range of Huski
skid-steer loaders and towing tractors.
The President’s Award for Excellence
recognises excellence in all aspects of Toyota
Material Handling (TMH) branch operations.
Mr Unnai said TMH (SA) had set the
benchmark for excellence for the whole TMHA
network last year.
“
It’s always good to reward a branch that fully
embraces the Toyota philosophy of Customer
First,” he said.
Mr Harper said the dealership’s second
President’s Award was recognition for the hard
work of his entire staff.
“
We have taken advantage of the scale of
TMHA by leveraging areas of accounting, HR
and marketing, and that has allowed us to
concentrate on delivering the best customer
service with a great support network,” he said.
“
The other main driver has been our stability of
staff; we have 71 team members and very little
turnover, giving our customers consistency
with service but also reinforcing a collective
team culture.”
TMH (SA) supports its customers with a fleet of
more than 25 service vans based at the branch’s
headquarters in Cavan Road, Gepps Cross.
Top Gear award winner Daniel Ford joined
TMH (QLD) in February 2006.
“
Working for Toyota means selling a prominent
forklift brand that is well known in the industry
as the market leader,” he said.
“
All the TMHA branches work together as
a team and have a common goal, which is
customer satisfaction.
“
TMHA gives you recognition for your efforts
and rewards you for your hard work, and
I couldn’t have won this award without the
ongoing support and work ethic of the field
service department, the workshop technicians
and the QLD sales team’s continual
encouragement,” Mr Ford said.
Toyota Material Handling Australia (TMHA)
is a major sponsor of Save Our Sons, a
charitable organisation seeking to raise
public awareness of and research funding for
the muscular disease Duchenne Muscular
Dystrophy (DMD).
The Save Our Sons charity has raised more
than $1 million to fund a human clinical trial
with the aim of finding a cure for the disease,
which only affects boys.
A highlight of this year’s fundraising
program was the recent Play for a Cure
Poker Tournament, held at Le Montage in
Leichhardt on the 9th June.
First prize included flights to Las Vegas and
accommodation, with an entry ticket into
the World Series of Poker Tournament. The
raffle prize was a Toyota Yaris three-door
hatchback.
Celebrity attendees included boxing
champion Jeff Fenech, poker champion Joe
Hachem, actor Ada Nicodemou (from TV
series Home and Away), plus a raft of sports
celebrities, including many Souths and West
Tigers NRL players.
TMHA executive vice president and COO,
Steve Takacs, said the company was
honoured to help extend the Save Our Sons
campaign to find a cure for DMD.
“
DMD is a terrible disease, with children
battling against the clock to stay self-sufficient
without the need of a wheelchair and,
ultimately, to survive,” he said.
Save Our Sons was founded by Sydney train
driver Eli Eid and his best mate, contract
painter Bass Abboud, after Eid’s son was
diagnosed with DMD.
Save Our Sons seeks to raise public
awareness and much-needed funding for
research on the disease.
“
We started in February 2008, just the two
of us, because I wanted to help a mate who
was doing it tough – with his son likely to die
before the age of 20,” Save Our Sons vice
president Bass Abboud said.
“
We now have a committee of five running
the charity with great community support.
“
Some celebrity backing goes a long way,
with Ada Nicodemou from Home and Away
being one of our first two SOS ambassadors.”
DMD is a form of muscular dystrophy
characterised by aggressive muscle
degeneration, leading to the inability to walk
and eventually death caused by heart and
lung failure.
The disease only affects boys, with
symptoms presenting themselves before the
age of five.
DMD affects one in every 3500 boys, making
it the most prevalent of muscular dystrophies.
Although only males are afflicted, females
can be carriers. The disorder is caused by a
mutation in the Dystrophin gene.
TMHA operates nationally and offers
Australia’s most comprehensive range of
material handling equipment.
Tmha lends a hand to
Save our Sons charity
Australia’s leading material handling equipment supplier
has extended its backing of a vital muscle disease charity
for another year.
From left: Footballer brothers Tom Burgess, Luke Burgess and Sam Burgess attend the Save Our Sons event.
