Southeast Toyota Distributors LLC

Infobox_Company
company_name = Southeast Toyota Distributors LLC
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 1968
location = Deerfield Beach, Florida, USA
key_people = Ed Sheehy, President
industry = Automotive Distribution and Part Sales
products = Cars, Trucks, Parts, Training
revenue = $11.1 billion (2006/JM Family)
employees = 1,002
slogan = "Buy a Toyota."
homepage = [http://www.jmfamily.com/Business/SoutheastToyota.aspx www.jmfamily.com] |

Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC (SET) is the world’s largest franchised distributor of Toyota vehicles. The 172 dealers in the five states of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina & South Carolina account for 20% of Toyota sales in the United States. SET is a wholly owned subsidiary of JM Family Enterprises. [ [http://www.hoovers.com/Southeast-Toyota-Distributors-Llc/--HD__fcjfrsyjf,src__dbi--/free-co-dnb_factsheet.xhtml Hoovers.com: company factsheet-Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC] ]

History

SET began operations in 1968 when all Toyota vehicles were manufactured in Japan and imported into the US. The NUMMI plant, a joint venture with General Motors, opened at Fremont, California in 1984 and was Toyota's first assembly plant in the US. Since then, Toyota has opened 6 more manufacturing facilities in the US and in 2008, more than 60% of Toyotas sold in the US are made in the US. Today, most of the vehicles distributed by SET are unloaded from railcars, not ships. In 2008, SET celebrated their 40th year in business.

As of July 11, 2008 the JM Family Enterprises Inc. has promoted one of its top executives to lead a major Toyota distributor and dealership. Ed Sheehy, 47, has been named president of Southeast Toyota Distributors and JM Lexus in Margate, Fla. He replaces Ken Czubay, 59, who was named Ford Motor Co.'s vice president of U.S. sales and marketing last week. Since 2007, Sheehy had been vice president and assistant general manager of Southeast Toyota. He also was a member of JM Family's executive management team. He joined Southeast Toyota in 1999 as vice president of marketing.

"This promotion is a testament to Ed's valuable contributions to our company and his proven leadership abilities over the past nine years," Colin Brown, CEO of JM Family Enterprises, said in a statement from the company's Deerfield Beach, Fla., headquarters. As president of Southeast Toyota distributors, Sheehy will be responsible for leading one of the largest Toyota distributors in the country. Its 172 dealers wholesaled one-fifth of Toyota's U.S. volume last year. As president of JM Lexus, he will lead the world's largest-volume Lexus dealership. The store sold 7,727 new Lexus vehicles last year.

Before joining Southeast Toyota, Sheehy was director of marketing for Nissan Motor Co. from 1997 to 1999. From 1984 to 1997, he held several other sales and marketing posts for Nissan.

Vehicle Processing

SET has two vehicle processing operations in Jacksonville, Florida and one in Commerce, Georgia from which they distributed a total of 415,000 vehicles in 2006, including 56,000 Lexus. [ [http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/113007/bus_221567352.shtml Florida Times-Union: Nov 30, 2007-Southeast Toyota tripling tech center] ] The ship facility is located at the Jacksonville Port Authority (JaxPort) Talleyrand terminal and processes the vehicles that arrive by ship from Japan, which is 40% of Toyotas sold in the US. The $53 million railcar facility, which opened in 2003 at Westlake Industrial Park in northwest Jacksonville, processes the vehicles that arrive from Toyota’s North American manufacturing centers by train. The SET Inland Processing facility, located in Commerce, Georgia, prepares North American-made Toyotas and Lexus for distribution primarily to SET dealers in Northern Alabama, the Carolinas and Northern Georgia.

Parts Supply and Distribution

SET is the premier Toyota parts distributor in the United States. From a Baymeadows warehouse in Jacksonville the size of eight football fields, SET Parts Sales has the best supply record of all Toyota regions or distributors while shipping more than $2.1 million in parts each day. In 2006, total part sales were $523 million.

Auto Transport

Southeast Transportation Systems (STS) was founded in July, 2000 to eventually replace the contract haulers used by SET since the company's inception. In 2006, their fleet of 40 tractor trailers delivered more than 100,000 vehicles to SET dealers from the Jacksonville, Florida and Commerce, Georgia processing centers. A new, 22,300-square-foot operations and maintenance facility was completed in November, 2006 at the company's Westlake complex in Jacksonville. The $12 million fleet center is used to perform regular maintenance and repairs on their tractor trailers. Those jobs were previously outsourced and as their fleet expands to 80, they expect to see significant cost savings. [ [http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2007/11/26/daily26.html Jacksonville Business Journal: Nov 10, 2006-Southeast Toyota to build $12 million fleet center] ]

Technician Training

In late 2007, SET opened a 33,000-square-foot, $6.6 million training center at its vehicle processing facility in the Westlake area, replacing a smaller, aging facility at the Port of Jacksonville. It provides entry-level to advanced maintenance and repair education for Toyota cars and trucks. The center is used by employees from the 172 SET Dealerships and has the capacity to provide 83,000 hours of training each year. [ [http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2007/11/26/daily26.html Jacksonville Business Journal: Nov 29, 2007-Southeast Toyota to open training center] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.jmfamily.com/Business/SoutheastToyota.aspx Southeast Toyota Distributors website]
* [http://www.jmfamily.com/ JMFE Official website]
* [http://www.toyotahighway.com/ SET Marketing website: www.toyotahighway.com]
* [http://www.22squared.com/ SET Advertising Agency of Record: 22Squared]