by US correspondent Roger Renstrom
A news release about an on-line 2005 trade survey said Toyota Material Handling USA Inc (TMHU) again led two product perception categories, but the results raised eyebrows in the forklift community.

TMHU, of Irvine, California, USA, issued the release using responses compiled from a sponsored question it supplied to a Boston, Massachusetts, USA, division of survey organiser Reed Research Group.

TMHU "dominated the categories of quality and value for the second year in a row", the forklift firm said in the release.
The sponsored question read: "Please rank the top five lift truck brands in terms of quality and value." Survey participants selected from a supplied list of 13 manufacturers and assigned rankings in separate categories for quality and value. Toyota came first in each category in 2005 and 2004.

The research organisation is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc's Reed Business Information US unit. Among its business-to-business titles, Reed Business publishes Modern Materials Handling magazine.

For the 2005 survey of those in the magazine's database, TMHU, in the forklift manufacturing segment, and another firm in the conveyor business, paid Reed Research to include three proprietary questions. Responses to those questions went only to the sponsors.

"The proprietary questions are done in conjunction with the study on-line," said Darrell Dal Pozzo, the magazine's associate publisher. Only one manufacturer in each equipment category can ask proprietary questions.

An unaffiliated firm, Research Results Inc, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, USA, independently tabulated the results for Reed Research.

The full 63-page study, "The State of Manufacturing, Warehouse and Distribution," consolidated results anonymously on the basis of input from 563 eligible respondents - qualified buyers of materials handling equipment - between August 16 and September 6, Dal Pozzo said. "Every year, we do a lot of research for Modern for different industries by product."

TMHU uses the information in marketing the brand. "It is an honour to be consistently rated number one by people who use materials handling equipment for their business needs," Brett Wood, vice president of marketing, product planning and dealer development, said in the Toyota release.

Reed Research is willing to customise studies for others. "Another lift truck company could call us and ask us to conduct a study across our audience," Dal Pozzo said.