Anthony J Salgado

Anthony J Salgado assumes duties as president of UniCarriers Americas Corp on 1 October, taking over from Akiri Shiki, who will take a Tokyo-based position as chief operating officer for parent firm UniCarriers Holdings Corp.

UniCarriers Americas continues in its "very challenging" transition of the Nissan, TCM, Barrett and Atlet forklift brands to the UniCarriers brand. "We have a good plan in place", seek to maximise the dealer network and anticipate at least two more years to complete the changes, Salgado tells Forkliftaction.com News. "Many of our dealers are asking us if they can accelerate the (identity) change for themselves."

UniCarriers Americas plans a formal entry into the market in Brazil "sometime in the next quarter" as part of a realignment, Salgado notes. "We are still looking at options and identifying the distribution network (in the South American country)."

Currently, UniCarriers México SA de CV in Villas del Sol, Querétaro, north of México City, serves as the UniCarriers Americas headquarters for the countries in Latin America. "We envision a larger operation in Brazil in the future," he says.

UniCarriers Americas plans to complete consolidation of its parts and service operations in Marengo by the end of October and "sunset" the former TCM America centre in Columbia, South Carolina. "We have transitioned those who wanted to stay with the organisation," Salgado notes.

The "new look" for UniCarriers forklift shipments since June is positive," Salgado says. "Customers are satisfied. It has a unique look in the market." For now, the "by UniCarriers" identifier is appended to each existing brand name.

UniCarriers Americas appointed Salgado and six other executives to new positions in its Marengo headquarters. All are effective from 1 October.

James J. Radous III was named executive vice president of sales for the Americas.

"We want to align our top resources with the areas we need to focus on to meet our commitment of growth and consumer satisfaction long term," Salgado says. "We are serious about our aftermarket."

Radous will oversee two new vice presidents: Steve Cianci for sales and marketing and Dan Domberg for aftermarket customer satisfaction.

Dale Mark was appointed as the successor to Salgado's current position as vice president of manufacturing operations.

In other appointments, Mark Manninen was named senior director of business and channel development and Brian Markison will become director of sales for North America.

The current headcount for UniCarriers Americas is "just under 500", Salgado says. "We have grown and added at least 80 people in the past year in production and elsewhere."

UniCarriers Americas has more than 235 authorised dealerships with over 350 locations across North, Central and South America.