Dedication + Impact: Meet Takeuchi’s Standout Employees for 2024

By January 17, 2025Winter 2025 Issue 40

We’re incredibly fortunate to have so many hardworking, dedicated employees at Takeuchi. Whether you’re at our Pendergrass, Georgia, facility or our track loader assembly plant in Moore, South Carolina, you’ll meet people who not only care about making Takeuchi a top-notch equipment brand, but who also care about each other and their communities. We took some time recently to recognize those Takeuchi employees who truly went the extra mile throughout 2024. Please join us in congratulating the following deserving individuals.

WILEY HUTTO AWARD: Lorenzo Forde, LTL Lead, Pendergrass, GA

Lorenzo is a true Takeuchi success story. Back in 2006, he came to us from a temp agency. Today, 19 years later, Lorenzo is responsible for the daily planning and shipping of all LTL shipments and stock orders. He leads a team of 10 employees and trains all new employees in his area on how to do various tasks right—and safely. Lorenzo is known throughout the Pendergrass facility for being extremely hardworking and dedicated. His number one priority is doing his best for our customers. Outside of work, Lorenzo puts just as much effort and care into his church, family and friends.

Takeuchi’s success is driven by our incredible team’s combined passion and commitment. We’re honored to celebrate these individuals who go the extra mile every day to support our customers, their coworkers and the communities we serve. Here’s to another year of dedication, teamwork, and excellence!

SALESPERSON OF THE YEAR: Eric Wenzel, Southeast Regional Business Manager

Since Eric joined Takeuchi-US three years ago, he’s demonstrated outstanding enthusiasm and dedication to our customers and dealer partners throughout his region. Eric is responsible for all sales development and activity across a multi-state region in the Southeastern U.S., and his duties include dealer development, dealer recruitment, forecasting and promotions, just to name a few. Eric’s customers benefit from his responsiveness and solution-based approach to any challenge that comes his way.

GEORGIA EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR: Kenny Goheen, Attachment Shipping Lead

For the past eight years, Kenny Goheen has received shipments, pulled orders and inventoried attachments for Takeuchi, along with overseeing the attachment warehouse. Kenny’s coworkers and Takeuchi customers alike appreciate his vast knowledge of all the different attachments, what machines they fit and where to find them. Not only is he the in-house attachment guru, but he also works hard to make sure attachments are shipped correctly and arrive on time. Kenny’s a dedicated employee who gets the job done quickly and correctly, time after time.

SOUTH CAROLINA EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR: Jamelia King, Assembly Team Leader, Main Conveyor Assembly Line

True leaders provide a positive example for others to follow. Jamelia King has done all that and more since joining the Takeuchi-US team at the Moore, SC track loader assembly plant in August 2022. Jamelia makes a difference by coaching her teammates, removing obstacles to progress and creating success for Takeuchi and its customers. Tim Dobmeier, manufacturing manager at Takeuchi-US, had this to say about her: “Jamelia is a team player who’s always willing to do what she can to help us achieve our goals. She always rises to the occasion, no matter what the challenge.”

About Takeuchi

Takeuchi is an ISO 9001 certified manufacturer of an extensive line of compact excavators and compact track loaders. Founded in 1963, Takeuchi was the first company to introduce the compact excavator, setting the stage for one of the highest growth product segments ever introduced in the compact equipment market. The compact excavator has become a main line product for both rental and construction/utility companies. Takeuchi continued to lead the compact construction industry with the introduction of the first compact track loader to North America.

For more information, please contact:

Lynette Von Minden, Swanson Russell
lynettev@swansonrussell.com
Phone: 402-437-6457

Stephen Odum, National Marketing Manager, Takeuchi-US
stephen.odum@takeuchi-us.com
Phone: 678-873-3070