Former Toyota Material Handling Australia (TMHA) President Steve Harper has joined Australian based International recruitment company – Automotive Personnel.
Harper will focus on company growth through the introduction of a new division that will target material handling and logistics personnel recruitment.
This appointment follows Harper’s 35+ year career with the Toyota family in Australia, which commenced in 1975 with Thiess Toyota, the then Toyota commercial vehicle importer/distributor.
Harper served twenty years with Toyota’s automotive company, which was then followed by 15 years overseeing Toyota’s Australian material handling operations.
From 2003 Harper was instrumental in the acquisition and consolidation of eight major independent dealer franchises, culminating in 2007 with the formation of a new company called Toyota Material Handling Australia (TMHA).
Harper became a director of all business acquisitions as well as sitting on the board of TMHA.
“TMHA was the first Toyota group company globally to distribute all three Toyota group company products (Toyota, BT and Raymond), and implementing cultural change within those businesses was no easy task," says Harper.
"However, I must say to the credit of all TMHA team members that the transition phase was not as long as first envisaged.”
"It was a privilege and a pleasure working with the team at TMHA around Australia including its independent dealers and agents – their support has been instrumental in the success of TMHA and one of the reasons why it remains to this day the number one materials handling company in Australia."
“Whilst I look back fondly on my years of service and at the mentors during my time with Toyota, I am also excited by the opportunities the new logistics recruitment division presents for me.
"Human resource recruitment has always been an integral part of management within my Toyota career so I think it timely and right for me to serve an industry that has been my life," Harper added.