Inside the “Toyoda” Legacy: What We Learned About Toyota Lean Management in Japan

This past September, Lift Truck Center President Doug Iannone was selected as one of only a few worldwide Toyota dealers to visit Japan and experience the origins of Toyota Lean Management firsthand. For a dealership serving small markets, the invitation was more than an honor. It showed that Toyota recognizes Lift Truck Center’s commitment to operating Lean and sees us as aligned with their values, goals, and commitment to quality.

Doug’s first reaction said everything about how meaningful this opportunity was:

“Did they pick the right dealer?”

What became clear throughout our conversation is that Toyota selected Lift Truck Center for the same reasons customers choose us. We take pride in lean thinking and are committed to continuous improvement.

Read more: Enhancing Efficiency with Toyota Lean Management

Seeing Toyota’s History Up Close

One of the biggest takeaways from Doug’s time in Japan was witnessing Toyota’s history in a deeper way. Inside the Toyota Museum, he learned that a sincere drive to help others was the founding inspiration of the company and saw how the company grew through decades of innovation, failure, learning and refinement.

“Until you begin to peel back the history and really see how much they [Toyota] paid in terms of failure… It removed the fear of failure and challenged me in a positive way to want to fail more, because the faster we fail, the quicker we learn and the better we evolve.”

This shapes how Lift Truck Center approaches our own work. Toyota’s long history of refinement is the reason their equipment performs reliably, and we follow the same mindset within our operations.

Why This Experience Helps Our Customers

A Stronger Foundation of Reliability

Doug left Japan with a renewed respect for how seriously Toyota treats quality. Not every manufacturer in our industry has this kind of history behind what they produce.

“Many of our newer competitors entering the North America market have only been manufacturing lift trucks for 10-20 years opposed to a Toyota manufacturing history that’s 100 years old.  They’re still learning things that Toyota learned decades ago.”

For customers, this means equipment designed by a company that has already solved the problems others are still encountering.

Read more: A Legacy of Trust: Celebrating Lift Truck Center History and our Toyota Partnership

A Deeper Commitment to Improvement at LTC

The trip reinforced the importance of Kaizen, Toyota’s commitment to continuous improvement. Lift Truck Center has already been practicing lean principles, but this experience added clarity and new ideas that will benefit our customers.

“Quality is an evolution and the Kaizen spirit within Toyota continues to propel a pursuit of excellence, unfortunately, there’s no shortcut to getting there quickly.”

Investing in Our Customers

Doug also came back with plans to offer more customer-focused resources. These include future opportunities for tours, simple introductions or long-term learning of lean practices and sessions where customers can learn how to apply Toyota-inspired principles to their own operations.

“We want to share the value of this journey, not keep it internal.”

This broadens the value of our relationship beyond being an equipment or service provider. It gives customers the chance to learn from the same framework that made Toyota one of the most respected manufacturers in the world.

Why You Can Trust Lift Truck Center

Doug’s experience in Japan confirmed the foundation our customers rely on.

• We represent a brand that has nearly a century of proven success.
• We model our approach on Toyota’s commitment to improvement.
• We invest in systems that help us better serve our customers.
• We do the right thing, even when nobody is looking.

Most importantly, we take pride in the legacy we carry into every interaction.

“Seeing the history and understanding it… it was honestly an emotional experience for me. The driving principles within Toyota’s core values became very real at that moment.”

Toyota will celebrate its 100-year anniversary in 2026, and Doug’s visit brought that century of learning into sharper focus. For us, it is more than history. It is the foundation behind the framework we bring to our customers every day, and it reinforces why choosing Lift Truck Center means choosing a partner backed by nearly a century of proven excellence, and a firm commitment to the future.