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 Hyster is an industry leader in the materials handling industry that has been in business for over eighty years. However, it began as a manufacturer of lifting machines as well as winches. Most of its production was focused in the northwest United States and dealt primarily with the wood and logging industry. A couple years after the first forklift trucks were invented Hyster became synonymous with quality production. Over the last eighty years Hyster has continued to expand and grow its product line. The expansion of its products coupled with its desire to stay service oriented has allowed Hyster to mature into the worldwide participant it is in the present day.
The 30 years between 1940's and the 1960's saw a large evolution in the number of products offered under the Hyster brand name. In 1946, Hyster opened a plant in Danville, Illinois that was exclusively dedicated to mass producing trucks. This allowed Hyster to drive its costs down and, at the same time, offer a better quality product at industry aggressive rates. In 1952, Hyster began its first foray in to the international production market through opening its first plant in the Netherlands. The Netherlands plant was originally designed to produce two products: Hyster 40" and the Karry Kranes.
The ever changing needs of Hyster users and Hyster's talent to continue to innovate led to rapid expansion throughout the 1950's and sixties. They started building container handlers in the United states in 1959 to satisfy the ever expanding demand for transportation goods. In 1966, Hyster developed a technique for allowing a lift truck to go both ahead and backwards using the same pedal. This pedal was labeled the Monotrol pedal, which revolutionized the industry. Later in the decade Hyster opened a research and development centre in Oregon that was concentrated on enhancing the design and functionality of lift trucks. The centre is still one of the world's top testing facilities in the materials handling industry.
The 60's was characterized by rapid growth throughout the entire materials handling industry. Due to this, Hyster needed to refocus its strategy towards these growing mass markets. Accordingly, in 1970, the XL design philosophy was born. The XL design philosophy allowed Hyster to afford superior quality at a more inexpensive price. A further expansion in production capabilities was necessitated by the demand in Europe for Internal Combustion Engine Trucks. To plug this gap, a plant in Craigavon, Ireland was opened in 1980. Through the 1980's Hyster continued to concentrate on developing industry leading forklifts. The Hyster company name was known throughout the globe for its dedication towards quality. This attention to quality produced many suitors for the business. In 1989, a large multinational company based in Ohio called NACCO Industries purchased Hyster and started an aggressive expansion plan. NACCO swiftly replaced the XL philosophy with a more driver oriented forklift that concentrated on operator comfort, which is known as the XM generation of lift trucks.
With the global change towards just-in-time management methods, Hyster has been required to keep up with the trends through investment in new and diverse technologies. Acquisitions and investments were made in the US, Italy, Netherlands, and various other places throughout the globe. All of these investments have made Hyster a international leader in the lift truck market. In 2009, Hyster celebrated its 80th anniversary as an industry leader of materials handling equipment, which includes over 300 various styles of lift trucks.
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