How Hyster-Yale is building a smarter, leaner supply chain  

Since we last spoke with Tracy Hixson, Vice President of Global Supply Chain at Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. in early 2024, the business has made significant strides to enhance the efficiency of its supply chain and align supplier expectations. With more than 100 years’ expertise, Hyster-Yale is an industry leader who designs, engineers, manufactures, sells, and services a comprehensive line of lift trucks, attachments, aftermarket parts, and technology solutions marketed globally primarily under the Hyster® and Yale® brand names.   

Resiliency is key 

“In 2020, manufacturers and consumers all over the world were impacted by supply chain issues,” Tracy begins. “Coupled with limited in-store shopping opportunities due to pandemic closures, consumers turned to e-commerce as a frequent alternative, which caused a surge in the movement of goods and increased demand for lift trucks – our core business. This trend resulted in historical lift truck bookings, which was excellent, but long-winded supply chain issues caused expansive industry-wide backlogs, one that many companies, including Hyster-Yale, have recently overcome.  

Strengthening relationships 

“Reflecting back on these supply chain issues, Hyster-Yale focused on strengthening relationships with our suppliers throughout 2024. We dedicated time to closely collaborating and improving communications, ensuring our supply chains are consistently aligned for timely product deliveries. Additionally, we diligently worked on reducing inventory levels which had accumulated as we worked to fulfill our manufacturing backlog.  

“This year we’re building upon our 2024 efforts, taking the opportunity to create more inventory efficiency gains by implementing fresh supply chain strategies including a one-piece flow system. This system functions by pulling parts all the way through our value chain from our suppliers into our factories and then to our customers, helping us optimize operations and foster greater overall efficiency. Not only does this provide us with enhanced inventory transparency, but it accounts for global supplier lead times as we source materials.  

“While the lift truck industry may not see the dramatic influx of bookings we saw a few years ago, it is expected to thrive and grow at a rate above GDP,” he predicts. “We’re preparing to leverage growth in the market and confirm we’re as efficient as possible to maximize the opportunities we take on.”   

Elaborating on the importance of Hyster-Yale’s supply chain, Tracy continues: “We build innovative, quality driven equipment that requires more than just a few parts, so supply chain management is crucial to ensure we have materials and parts exactly when we need them. Which again, is why maintaining strong relationships with our suppliers and implementing our new one-piece flow system are so important to us.  

“To guarantee that we are continually strengthening our working relationships, we’ve established a supplier advisory committee that brings our suppliers together several times a year to share honest feedback and best practices. Additionally, we conduct monthly real-time meetings with all suppliers, providing a valuable opportunity to gather and share feedback, as well as synchronize our operations.”   

Collaborative power 

Tracy is committed to strengthening the company’s relationships with suppliers and fostering mutually beneficial partnerships based on integrity and clear communications. “We are taking the time to understand our suppliers’ operations and collaborating with them to align expectations,” he says. “We’ve implemented an enhanced vendor-managed inventory (VMI) system, which eliminates the need for purchase orders and uses an in-process Kanban-style system. This allows suppliers to easily forecast demand. As we pull parts from inventory, our demand is automatically communicated to the supplier, providing greater visibility throughout the entire process, from products in transit to their point of use.  

“Our enhanced VMI also encourages improved planning for both us and our suppliers. We can easily see what our suppliers are capable of manufacturing, and our suppliers can align production with our schedules. Additionally, we’ve added six-week firm schedules, allowing suppliers to forecast demand and better understand the usage timeframe, which is huge, and is expected to be a big efficiency contributor to our overall manufacturing operations,” Tracy says with excitement.   

“As for more local suppliers, we work with them in a much more granular manner, visiting their factories and making unique plans for individual products. For high volume parts, for instance, we create a plan that makes sure the supplier remains Kanban-ready in terms of our forecast. This keeps a finite amount of inventory within our system overall, and with our enhanced VMI now in place, we can see exactly where components are in real time.   

“The biggest asset we have in our supply chain is our people,” Tracy states. “Our teams have such high talent levels and we’re passionate about internal development. We often employ recent graduates and offer a rotational program that allows them to understand the entire business. The caliber of people across the company is phenomenal and is truly the differentiator that sets us apart.”  

Continued uncertainty 

In terms of challenges, Tracy explains the pressing issue facing Hyster-Yale today. “While there are certain issues with logistics, a major challenge affecting manufacturers is navigating the complicated and ever-changing realm of tariffs,” he shares. “We’re taking time to understand the revamped rules, but there’s still uncertainty about where these policy changes will end up. All we can do is continue to run smooth operations as we monitor the ongoing changes. For the last six-to-seven years, we’ve gradually pivoted our strategy to include dual sources so that if products are delayed or unavailable in one region, we can leverage additional suppliers to mitigate challenges.”  

The future is modular 

When it comes to product development, Tracy gives us insight into the company’s lineup of modular, scalable products, referred to as the Hyster® A-Series and Yale® Series N. “Not only is this lineup scalable from a manufacturing standpoint, allowing for design, assembly and parts synergies, but customers can scale their desired trucks to get a customized application-driven solution at the right price,” he explains. “There’s no reason for a customer in a low-intensity application to be forced to buy all the bells and whistles if they don’t need them, while a customer in a high-intensity application should be able to outfit their truck with exactly what they need to get the job done.  

“A significant portion of our product development and technological innovations are driven by our customers. We frequently hold product development meetings to understand their applications and operational needs, and budgets. Using this information, we engage in a rigorous process to create tailored solutions, collaborating with customers throughout to confirm we meet their expectations.  

“As customers throughout the industry continue to deal with lift truck operator turnover and shortages, increasing throughput pressures and delivery demands, we’re seeing a growing interest in operator assist and digital sensor technologies,” Tracy adds. “This type of technology can reinforce lift truck operating best practices and operator awareness, by limiting equipment performance in challenging situations, while keeping the operator in control of the lift truck, stopping forklift incidents in their tracks. This type of technology is a game changer for companies looking to increase operational safety support and overall best practices.”   

As our conversation closes, Tracy shares his thoughts on what the upcoming years have in store for Hyster-Yale. “Our investments in efficiency, safety, and technology will continue in 2025 as we manage and consolidate our one-piece flow system across the entire supply chain,” he concludes. “On a wider scale, technology, data, and AI initiatives will continue to play an important role in proactive maintenance management and help our customers to maintain a quality product. As the industry continues to transform, the companies with the most efficient operations and those that are closely aligned with customers will outpace their competitors. At Hyster-Yale, we’re positioning ourselves to set a new standard, one that starts with our employees and suppliers, and will be felt by our customers.”   

www.hyster-yale.com