Toyota Deutschland GmbH in Germany has appointed Norio Wakabayashi as president. He succeeds Hiroyuki Toyobe who returns to Japan to work for Toyota Material Handling Company. Wakabayashi has 15 years of experience in Toyota's industrial equipment business. For the past two years, he was director at the European headquarters in Brussels. He was involved in the set-up of the Toyota factory in Ancenis, France and participated in the success and growth of Toyota in Europe.

Michael Romano has become the majority shareholder and president of Associated Material Handling Industries, Inc. Romano was a principal partner and CEO of Abel-Womack Integrated Handling Solutions, Inc, based in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He succeeds Gordon Demaine who is retiring after nine years as president and COO.

Rental Service Corp has appointed Erik Olsson as chief operating officer. Olsson was chief financial officer for the company since January 2001. As COO, he will oversee the effort to fulfil the equipment rental needs of more than 200,000 customers in North America.

Dick Golden has retired from Scott Lift Truck Corp at age 78. Golden and his business partner Phil Malarski were among the first independent LPM dealers. They eventually sold their business to Atlas Lift Truck. After that, Golden joined Scott Lift Truck to continue marketing LPM parts.