Hino Motors Sales U.S.A. Inc. of Southaven, Miss. will open its new national parts distribution center April 20, 2005. Official ceremonies will begin at 2 PM.

Dignitaries expected to attend include Haley Barbour, governor of Miss.; Greg Davis, mayor of Southaven; Takeshi Iida, managing director, Hino Motors Ltd.; Osamu Koyama, executive vice president, Mitsui & Co.(U.S.A) Inc.; Hiroji Kurayama, president, Hino Motors Sales U.S.A. Inc.; Hideichiro Chikahiro, president, Hino Motors Manufacturing U.S.A Inc.; and Dennis Cuneo, senior vice president, Toyota Motor North America Inc.
The 100,000 square foot distribution center will house more than 22,000 parts for the complete line of Hino Trucks in North America. When this new facility is open, the cut-off for emergency orders will be extended 8 hours to 10:00 PM, orders received by midnight will ship the next day and the first pass fill rate will rise to 98.5% (compared to the previous 94% rate). In addition, backorders will be processed daily rather than every three to five days, transportation costs will be reduced up to 20% per carrier mile and the number of dealers serviced is projected to grow to 150 from 121 by year’s end.
Based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Hino Motor Sales U.S.A is the United States sales and customer support division of Hino Motors Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan. Hino Motors Ltd. produces over 80,000 Class 4, 5, 6 and 7 trucks and buses each year. Toyota owns controlling interest of Hino Motors Ltd. PCP Holdings, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Penske Corporation, and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. also share ownership of the new Miss. parts distribution facility.