Maruyama U.S. Heads South, Names New VP

Hand-held equipment manufacturer Maruyama U.S., announced recently that it will be relocating its headquarters from Auburn, Wash. To Denton, Texas. A newly built facility will house the company’s staff across 8,000 square feet of office space, as well as 18,500 square feet of high-cube warehouse space. The building will be complete with an equipment-testing room, workshop and a training room for up to 50 people.

The Denton facility will house all departments of the company including sales, customer service, marketing, technical services and operations.  In addition, by summer 2006, Maruyama will begin final product assembly and packaging from this location. Currently, assembly and packaging is all handled by the company’s locations in Japan.

“We have a regional office in Texas, not too far from Denton, which is part of the reason we chose this location for the move,” explains Kim Eiffert with Maruyama. “It’s also a much more centrally located location, which will be very important once we start final product assembly and packaging in the United States. It’s much more convenient than shipping units from Washington all the way to the East Coast.”

Eiffert also tells Lawn & Landscape that much of the Washington staff will be following the company to their new southern location, though Maruyama will be hiring after the first of the year, especially to staff the new warehouse. Production of Maruyama products will not be interrupted during the move. The new facility will be partially occupied by January 2006 and the move will be completed by April 2006.

Coinciding with the relocation, Maruyama U.S., has announced the promotion of Tom Glaze to vice president. In his new position, Glaze will operate from the Denton facility and take on an increased role in managing the company’s business including market and product development, operations and future growth. The promotion was effective Nov. 1.

Glaze, started with Maruyama in 1988 as western regional manager and has 32 years of industry experience.