Toyota Industries Corp (TICO) will invest USD12 million in a new plant to produce hydraulic valves for Toyota forklifts and, in future, other OEM forklifts and construction equipment.

An official ground-breaking ceremony for TICO's new manufacturing plant, Indiana Hydraulic Equipment, took place at 2,000 Musicland Drive, in Franklin, Indiana, on Monday morning,

TICO established the new hydraulic valve manufacturing company, Indiana Hydraulic Equipment Corp, to meet rising demand for Toyota forklifts, an Indiana Hydraulic statement said.

The new facility is in the Franklin Business Park, 30 minutes drive south of Indianapolis. Construction starts this month and the facility is expected to start production in June 2008.

Indiana Hydraulic will manufacture hydraulic valves with technical support from Nishina Industrial Co Ltd, a TICO subsidiary and a leading hydraulic valve manufacturer in Japan. TICO anticipated Nishina would not be able to meet future production demands with its current capacity, the statement said.

"Since 99 per cent of Toyota forklifts sold in the US are produced in North America, investment in additional capacity will be in the US. The primary customer for Indiana Hydraulic will be Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Inc, located 30 miles south of Franklin, in Columbus, Indiana."

Hydraulic valve sales to Raymond Corp, of Greene, New York, were also planned, the statement said.

About USD7 million will be invested in new equipment for the 58,000 square foot (5,388.4 square metre) facility. The plant will employ about 20 workers initially, with plans to increase the number to 35 over the next few years.