Living Jackson Magazine

Southeast Toyota Distributors
Symbiotic Relationship With Community Delivers Win-Win

By Pamela Keene

For Southeast Toyota Distributors’ Inland Processing facility in Commerce, the mission is about more than prepping Toyota and Lexus vehicles for sale to customers by its 167 independent Toyota dealers in the Southeast. The facility, whose parent company is JM Family Enterprises Inc. (JMFE), has positively influenced Commerce and Jackson County in many untold ways.

“Their people are very involved in the community in ways that reflect the passion of JM Family Enterprises,” says Pepe Cummings, president of the Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce. “They support children, the school system and the community; and we certainly appreciate the contribution they make to our quality of life.”

Giving back to the community is an integral part of the company’s corporate culture.

“We consider it our corporate responsibility to share our success by helping others,” says Jeff Geisler, the assistant vice president of Southeast Toyota (SET). “Our philanthropic efforts are focused in the areas of families, education, multi-cultural diversity, the arts and health.”

In Jackson County the company supports The Boys & Girls Club of Jackson County, Habitat for Humanity, Partners in Education, Jackson County Board of Education, March of Dimes and the American Cancer Society.

Associates also participate in the company’s corporate volunteer program, “Dollars for Doers,” which rewards associates by recognizing their volunteer service with financial contributions to charities of their choice. Based on accumulated hours earned during volunteer opportunities, associates can apply for corporate gifts of up to $1,000 directed to their charities.

“The effect is significant—providing associates a voice in how our company gives back to the community,” Geisler says.

Processing and Customizing Vehicles

Southeast Toyota’s Inland Processing facility was designed and built in the late 1980s with one purpose: processing new Toyotas.

The methodology behind the processing center and accessory program is to customize vehicles, providing special options that customers want in today’s vehicles.

“Commerce can go beyond the generic processing system of, say, ordering 5,000 blue Camrys, to actually customizing the vehicles any way the dealer or customer wants,” Geisler says. “This can be achieved in 24 hours or less. Essentially, the Commerce facility can process a custom-made vehicle, which is what consumers are seeking. We offer that advantage over the rest of the automotive industry.”

Automation is used only where it’s most effective.

“Toyota in general is less automated and much of the work is labor intensive,” he says. “That’s a good thing because if Toyota decides to change something on the Camry, for instance, it’s much easier and cost efficient for SET to make those changes with trained and skilled associates than change or purchase expensive new equipment. Our associates are cross-trained, which also makes our processing very flexible.”

At Southeast Toyota’s Inland Processing facility, North American-made Toyota and Lexus vehicles are processed for distribution predominantly to dealers in northern Alabama, the Carolinas and northern Georgia. The 300-acre complex includes six buildings with a total of 160,000 square feet, 50 acres of pavement and six rail spurs.

When the company first began operations in 1989, a staff of 17 associates processed 1,200 vehicles. In 2005, the 170 associates of Inland Processing provided pre-dealer delivery services for 112,000 Toyota vehicles and 5,700 Lexus vehicles and installed approximately 438,000 accessories.

The Commerce facility is one of three operated by Southeast Toyota.

Why Commerce?

When the company, with corporate headquarters in Deerfield Beach, Fla., decided to open an inland processing facility, it looked toward Atlanta because of its strategic location and the transportation infrastructure. The company searched more than 70 sites and chose a 300-acre location in Commerce.

“Southeast Toyota had three requirements for choosing the site: rail access, interstate access and a good labor force,” Geisler says. “Commerce offered all three.”

No incentives were offered, but the cooperation of area officials provided a positive start to a continuing successful relationship.

“The city, Jackson County and the state of Georgia welcomed us with open arms and were extremely cooperative. They expedited all processes and consequently there were no delays in permitting and other typical construction challenges,” Geisler says. “Southeast Toyota bought the property one day and was building the next. The support that Southeast Toyota has received from all levels of government has been a key factor in our overall success. We maintain an excellent working relationship with many cities throughout Jackson County and are active members of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce.”

Company History

Southeast Toyota Distributors was established in 1968 in Deerfield Beach to serve dealers in five states–Florida, northern Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina and northern Georgia. Currently, the firm is the largest exclusive franchised distributor of Toyota and Scion vehicles in the world. It’s ranked No. 1 in the National Automobile Dealers Association’s dealer attitude study, and as the 17th-largest privately held company in the United States by Forbes magazine.

Founded by Jim Moran, now honorary chairman and 2005 inductee into the Automotive Hall of Fame, JM Family Enterprises has grown from a core distribution business into a diversified automotive corporation whose principal businesses focus on vehicle distribution and processing, finance and warranty services, insurance activities, retail sales and technology products and services. JMFE is a $9.4 billion force in the industry with more than 4,400 associates nationwide.

Commerce Contributes to Overall Success

Although the southeastern states make up approximately 15 percent of the country’s population, Southeast Toyota dealers sell approximately 20 percent of Toyotas sold in the United States.

With 167 independent Toyota dealers in the five-state region of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and North and South Carolina, SET sales out-pace Toyota sales in every other part of the United States. In 2005, Southeast Toyota celebrated its 15th year of consecutive retail sales growth. Part of the success of the inland facility is quick turn-around for vehicle processing.

“While most processing centers will have a large volume of ground stock to pick from, our facility in Commerce does not,” Geisler says. “In most cases, we ship to dealers the same day the vehicles arrive. It’s highly unusual in this business to offload in the morning and ship the same day—Commerce does that. It’s a kind of ‘just-in-time’ processing, designed to be extremely flexible. All vehicles that come in each week go out that same week.”

The Southeast Toyota Distributor’s Inland Processing facility at Commerce is way ahead of the industry by handling vehicles quickly.

The vehicles processed in Commerce come from Toyota’s North American manufacturing plants in Fremont, Calif.; Cambridge, Ontario; Georgetown, Ky.; and Princeton, Ind. The next generation Tundra will be processed from a new plant in San Antonio, Texas. The following models are processed in Commerce: Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Sienna, Solara, Sequoia, Matrix, Tacoma, Tundra and the Lexus RX 330.

They are brought in by rail and sent out to dealerships by truck.

“The Commerce site has given Southeast Toyota Distributor unlimited availability to do what it wants to do—allow Southeast Toyota Distributor to accept trains quickly and save time on trucking vehicles to the dealers for sale to their customers,” Geisler says. “It is truly a vital part of the success of our service to Toyota dealers in the Southeast.”

Pamela Keene is a free-lance writer and contributing Living Jackson writer from Flowery Branch.