[edit] History
[edit] Establishing Willamette Ersted Co.
The company that would be known as Hyster Co. was founded by E.G. Swigert in 1929 under the name Willamette Ersted Co.[2] Initially, this company was established to manufacture logging winches for the forestry market in the Pacific Northwest, with headquarters in Portland, Oregon.
[edit] The Early Products
1934 saw the development of the straddle carrier with forks, which was one of the company’s earliest forklifts. Following this was the development of the BT, a forklift with a cable hoist system, able to lift 6,600 pounds (3,000 kg).[3] By 1940, the company began to manufacture its first piece of mobile lifting equipment, a mobile crane on a tractor frame, first known as a Cranemobile, later to be renamed Karry Krane. The Karry Kranes would prove to be very profitable for the company, as these lift trucks were used for loading and unloading massive cargo ships for importing and exporting purposes. In 1941, Willamette Ersted began recognizing a need for a smaller lift truck, and designed a new smaller model known as the Handy Andy. The following year, the Jumbo was introduced as the company’s first product to use pneumatic tires and a telescoping mast.
[edit] Operations in Peoria
In the company’s early years, one of its prominent customers was Caterpillar Tractor Co. Caterpillar held an exclusive contract with the company, whereby Willamette Ersted Co. would manufacture specialized winches for Caterpillar’s logging tractors. In light of this, the company decided in 1936 to open a warehouse and distribution center in Peoria, Illinois, where Caterpillar was headquartered. By 1940, Willamette Ersted Co. had begun full-scale manufacturing of products at its Peoria location.
[edit] Prosperity During the War
World War II was a particularly profitable time for the company, as its Karry Kranes were relied upon by the Allied Forces to unload ships at many ports. Approximately 1,000 of these lift trucks were used during the war.[4]
[edit] The Beginning of Hyster
Willamette Ersted Co. would soon be known by a more familiar name. The company began using the name Hyster, a slang term for the command “hoist her”, shouted by loggers when a fallen tree was ready to be lifted, for its equipment line. By 1944, the company’s name had officially been changed to Hyster Co.
[edit] Success After the War
The period toward the end of the war marked a successful period for Hyster Co. The company set up department to focus on a new export business in 1944. Two years later, Hyster Co. opened a new manufacturing plant in Danville, Illinois, for the mass production of lift trucks. This plant, built to provide Hyster Co. with the capacity to meet the international and local demand for lift trucks, would be the company’s main plant for the next five decades. By 1953, Hyster Co. had reached sales of almost $26 million.[5] At this time, the company was in third place in the sale of lift trucks in North America, behind the Yale division of Eaton Manufacturing, and Clark Equipment Co.
[edit] The Leadership of Philip S. Hill
In 1956, Hyster Co.’s operations were taken over by Philip S. Hill, the company’s VP, who had joined the company in 1933 as a machinist. Four years later, Hill became president of Hyster Co. In 1966, he was named CEO following the retirement of E.G. Swigert. During Hill’s period of leadership, the company began producing smaller, more maneuverable trucks for indoor applications. At this time, the company’s international expansion, having begun in 1952 with the establishment of a plant in Nijmegen, the Netherlands,[6] continued full-force, culminating in the 1960s with the opening of plants in Scotland, Australia, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Brazil, South Africa, and Canada. The company facilitated this expansion by using $27 million of its annual $63 million total sales.[7]
[edit] The Growing Lift Truck Industry
Throughout the 1960s, the domestic lift truck industry grew by approximately 11 percent. By the following decade, 85 percent of Hyster’s profits were due to the sale of lift trucks, with over 60 percent of that total being sold for indoor purposes.[8] During this period, the company obtained a $2 million contract for “floating” lift trucks, used in the cargo ship industry, for States Steamship Co. As the demand for Hyster products continued to grow, the company established new plants in Illinois and Alabama. By 1979, Hyster’s sales had reached $683 million.[9]
With the company’s earnings in the late 1970s came its continued expansion. It opened new plants in Kentucky and Indiana, while improving and expanding the Danville, Illinois location. As lift trucks were now responsible for 90 percent of the company’s sales, the company made the decision to introduce a line of electric trucks, which became very popular in the European market. In addition, Hyster acquired Fabtek, a California-based manufacturer of personnel lifts, in 1978. The end of the 1970s was a significant period for the company, as it beat Eaton’s Yale division for second place in lift truck sales.
[edit] Economic Hardships in the 1980s
In stark contrast to the 1970s, the following decade brought an economic downturn for the lift truck industry. In addition to the recession in the early 1980s, the industry was greatly affected when Japanese automobile companies such as Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan, and Komatsu decided to manufacture lift trucks. By 1982, these companies had control of approximately 10 percent of the American lift truck market, causing Hyster sales to decrease by $422 million. This was Hyster’s first unprofitable year, with a net loss of $22 million.[10] In response to the company’s loss of profits, a restructuring program was implemented. This program included closing plants in California and Belgium, as well as downsizing operations in the Netherlands and Australia. These decisions resulted in the laying off of approximately 2,000 employees.
[edit] Competing for Market Control
With falling lift truck sales, Hyster realized its need to manufacture a product that could compete with the competitors’ developments. As a result, the company unveiled the XL Challenger product line – gas-powered lift trucks that were priced between $18,000 and $22,000. The line, introduced in 1981, began to increase Hyster’s market share in the low-capacity lift truck category; by 1982, the company’s share had increased by 6 percent. The sale of XL Challenger products accounted for 10% of the orders Hyster received.[11]
[edit] Controversial Tactics
In 1982, Hyster embarked on a controversial survival campaign. Chairman William Kilkenny and President William Fronk decided to address various members of government in five states, as well as four countries in which the company manufactured products, to complain about having to compete with Japanese companies that were receiving unfair subsidies. Hyster offered to maintain much-needed jobs only in states and countries that would provide it with monetary compensation. Under the pressure of the economic troubles brought on by the recession, the U.S. government complied, resulting in $28 million in grants and loans by 1983.[12] Following the U.S., the U.K. presented Hyster with a reported $20 million to keep 1,500 jobs in Irvine, Scotland. Hyster then opened a new, highly automated plant in Craigavon, Northern Ireland; the U.K. government subsidized half of the $42 million construction and equipment costs. In 1982, Hyster also built an $8.2 million plant in Blanchardstown, Ireland; the country’s Industrial Development Authority supplied $16 million for operating costs.[13]
The plant built in Blanchardstown, Ireland was intended to produce warehouse automation systems, as Hyster believed that the future of materials handling companies would be increasingly automated. As these systems turned out to be more expensive to manufacture and more difficult to sell than the company had thought, the plant was closed in 1987, causing newly unemployed Irish workers to protest.
[edit] Maintaining a Market Share
Through the late 1980s, Japanese companies began to establish assembly plants within the U.S., securing a 50 percent market share. The businesses that suffered the most from the success of these competitors were Clark Equipment, Caterpillar Inc., and Yale Materials Handling. Clark suffered the most significant loss, with its market share dropping to less than 20 percent, because it had no alternative to Japanese products. Hyster was ultimately the only North American lift truck producer that remained somewhat successful in the 1980s, with a market share of 17 percent. By the end of the decade, the company’s sales had reached $776 million, and its profits were $22 million.[14]
[edit] New Ownership
In 1984, Hyster was bought out by shareholder ESCO, in a move that would take the company private. By the late part of the decade, ESCO decided to sell the company to capitalize on its investment. The party interested in purchasing Hyster was NACCO Industries Inc., a former coal-mining company that had already acquired Yale Materials Handling Corp. In May 1989, NACCO purchased Hyster from ESCO for $620 million, in addition to taking on $80 million of the company’s debt. This acquisition, merging Hyster and Yale, resulted in the Hyster-Yale Materials Handling Division of NACCO. This division became the number one North American lift truck producer.
By the mid-1990s, the economy began to gain strength, and as a result, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling attained record sales of $1.2 billion in 1994.
In 1995, NACCO divided the management of the two companies, and Hyster was operated as an independent unit of NACCO.
[edit] The Company Today
Today, Hyster Co., based in Greenville, NC, employs more than 15,000 people around the world.[15] The company comprises Hyster Americas, with six manufacturing plants and over 300 dealers; Hyster Europe, with five manufacturing plants and over 160 dealers; and Asia-Pacific, with three manufacturing plants and over 140 dealer locations.[16]
Hyster Co. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NACCO Industries, a $2.6 billion Fortune 500 company and leading producer of lift trucks based in Cleveland, Ohio.[17]
[edit] Equipment List
[edit] References
- ↑ Hyster Company History. Funding Universe. 2008-09-09.
- ↑ Hyster Company History. Funding Universe. 2008-09-09.
- ↑ History. Hyster. 2008-09-09.
- ↑ History. Hyster. 2008-09-09.
- ↑ History. Hyster. 2008-09-09.
- ↑ History. Hyster. 2008-09-09.
- ↑ History. Hyster. 2008-09-09.
- ↑ Hyster History. Funding Universe. 2008-09-09.
- ↑ Hyster History. Funding Universe. 2008-09-09.
- ↑ Hyster History. Funding Universe. 2008-09-09.
- ↑ Hyster History. 2008-09-09.
- ↑ Hyster History. Funding Universe. 2008-09-09.
- ↑ Hyster History. Funding Universe. 2008-09-09.
- ↑ Hyster History. Funding Universe. 2008-09-09.
- ↑ About. Hyster. 2008-09-09.
- ↑ About. Hyster. 2008-09-09.
- ↑ About. Hyster. 2008-09-09.
