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Aug 01, 2023

Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas breaks ground on new Houston facility

Houston-based Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas, a major manufacturer and provider of material handling, automation and fleet solutions, is building a new production facility in the Bayou City. A

Houston-based Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas, a major manufacturer and provider of material handling, automation and fleet solutions, is building a new production facility in the Bayou City.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Aug. 23 for the facility, which is being built on Logisnext's Houston headquarters campus, at 2121 W. Sam Houston Parkway N. Construction is expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2024.

The facility will support manufacturing of key electric warehouse products across the Jungheinrich, Cat lift trucks, Mitsubishi forklift trucks and UniCarriers Forklift product lines. It will have a total floor area of 73,000 square feet and will serve as a dedicated fabrication space for in-house welding and painting of masts and frames, Logisnext said.

"Today marks an exciting milestone for Logisnext as we break ground on our newest electric forklift manufacturing facility in Houston," Jay Gusler, executive vice president of operations at Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas, said in a press release. "The material-handling industry is rapidly changing, and we're proud to be on the forefront of this change. We're committed to investing in our manufacturing capabilities and new product development to ensure we continue providing our customers with the most advanced, yet sustainable, electric products and solutions in the future."

More details about the project were not immediately available. However, the company and other Mitsubishi arms have expanded in the Houston area multiple times in the past decade.

Houston-based Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America Inc. broke ground on a plant at 2121 W. Sam Houston Parkway N. in 2013, adding around 60,000 square feet of production space to MCFA’s 42-acre campus.

MCFA also began building a 71,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and distribution center on 10 acres in the Conroe Industrial Park in early 2017. That facility was part of a joint venture between MCFA and Hamburg, Germany-based Jungheinrich AG, a material handling equipment company.

Less than 10 years ago, MCFA also moved production of its Cat Lift DP100N - DP160N forklift truck series from Japan to its Houston manufacturing base on West Sam Houston Parkway.

Additionally, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., moved its headquarters from New York to Greenway Plaza in 2016 and formed a new oil and gas division in early 2017. The headquarters move was expected to help the company target industries such as chemical plants. The Houston headquarters oversees MHI operations throughout North America.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Compressor International Corp., another MHI Group company, opened a 180,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Pearland in 2015.

Caterpillar Industrial Inc., a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., previously was part of the MCFA joint venture. However, Japan-based Mitsubishi Logisnext acquired Caterpillar Industrial's minority stake in the JV in March 2021, making the Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas group 100% owned by the Japanese parent company. Caterpillar Inc. and Logisnext said they would continue their long-term relationship.