Leadership Spotlight: Kwang Yu

It’s always fortunate when you have a subject matter expert on hand to help you work through the most challenging issues; someone who has seen it all and has a solution you never thought of. Their knowledge is more valuable than gold and expands as time goes by. Toyota Lift Northwest is fortunate to have such a person.

Our Senior Manager of Service for Washington State, Kwang Yu, has worked tirelessly to help businesses in the Pacific Northwest keep their fleets operating at peak efficiency since 1998! In addition to his duties overseeing the service department, he serves as our company safety manager and is a member of Toyota’s Quality Engineering Group. This team of 12 professionals from across the country advise Toyota on ways to improve products.

The Lift: Where did you get your start at TLNW?
Yu: I started as a dispatcher and Assistant Service manager.
The Lift: What’s your favorite part of working here?
Yu: The team! We have a wonderful group that care about the company and are always willing to help.
The Lift: Any advice for someone just staring out in this field?
Yu: If you don’t want to work at a company for 30 years then don’t start. Learn the business, work hard, and give it a couple years. You’ll get sucked into an industry that is rewarding and can provide you with a healthy career.

Kwang Yu holding his After Market Manager of the Year award.On top of celebrating his tenure at Toyota Lift Northwest this past month, on March 20th, he was honored as Toyota Material Handling’s 2021 Aftermarket Manager of the Year! “He has been an instrumental part of Toyota Lift NW for the last 30 years. His work ethics and discipline are unparalleled. Kwang is immensely admired by his technicians and maintains a high degree of respect by his peers. He is an integral part of the Toyota Lift Northwest leadership team and is actively involved in every decision. Recently, Kwang has been actively involved in the development and finalizing the opening of our satellite branches. Above all, he is a very loyal and dedicated employee of TLNW,“ writes Ashwini Wankhede, President of Toyota Lift Northwest.

The Lift: How did you react to winning this award?
Yu: This totally caught me off guard. The hard work and dedication from our employees contributed to us getting the Service and Parts excellence award. This was a team effort! When they called my name for The Aftermarket Manager award I froze. I had to do a double take to make sure I heard it correctly. This seems like an individual award but it’s not. We should congratulate each other for this one. All the efforts and success we’ve been having is being recognized by Toyota. This was a great win for TLNW! Special thanks to Ash for the nomination!

Additionally, Toyota Lift Northwest was awarded with the Service Excellence Award and the Parts Excellence Award. Congratulations to our Service and Parts departments for all their hard work.