The Hyster and Yale forklift brands will undergo a major corporate reorganization.

The operations of publicly traded Hyster-Yale Materials Handling Inc through subsidiary Nacco Materials Handling Group Inc (NMHG) are changing "to strengthen the Hyster and Yale lift truck brands", the company says.

"At NMHG, we have two industry-leading lift truck brands in Hyster and Yale — brands that have stood the test of time and have consistently delivered high productivity and product quality while reducing operating costs," says Charles F Pascarelli, president of sales and marketing in the Americas for NMHG in Greenville.

NMHG is creating three specialised teams for the warehouse, counterbalance and big truck market segments. Jonathan Dawley was named president for big trucks, and Bill Pfleger was appointed vice president of counterbalance solutions. The leader for warehouse solutions is yet to be named.

"These changes were implemented to create a more focused and customer-centric organisation that will allow us to execute in a more nimble and responsive manner to the needs of our customers," Pascarelli says. "Because our product offering extends well beyond lift trucks, our goal is to provide solutions to our customers that will help them be more productive and efficient, delivering a lift to their bottom line."

David Furman, recently appointed president of NMHG sales, will guide the alignment of the Hyster and Yale sales teams in North America under three entities for the basic region, Latin America and national accounts. This new structure seeks to strengthen the alignment between NMHG and the Hyster and Yale dealer networks. NMHG says each region is led by a vice president.

The organisation designs, engineers, manufactures, sells and services forklift trucks and aftermarket parts that are marketed globally, primarily under the Hyster and Yale brands. NMHG also manages the Utilev brand of utility lift trucks.

Mayfield Heights, Ohio-based Hyster-Yale Materials Handling has about 5,100 employees and 40 subsidiaries including NMHG.

The corporation had 2013 sales of USD2.67 billion, for which the Americas region accounted USD1.76 billion.