UniCarriers Corp is consolidating its manufacturing sites in Japan to cut production costs.

The company's subsidiary, Nissan Forklift Co, has outsourced production to a Yokohama firm since 2001 but will end the contract in April 2013, according to the Nikkei Report. From May 2013, the 7,000 small forklifts produced by the firm will be built at UniCarrier's Shiga plant, which will then have a total output of 20,000-plus units a year.

UniCarriers bought former Hitachi Construction Machinery Co firm TCM Corp and former Nissan Motor Co. (7201) unit Nissan Forklift in August, and plans to integrate the subsidiaries into the main company next northern spring (Forkliftaction.com News #542).

The Nikkei Report says UniCarriers aims to cut shipping costs in future by expanding domestic production in the US and China, which are its main markets.
Changes to its production structure are forecast to cut manufacturing costs by 10-15% by the year ending March 2014.