Top 20 lift truck suppliers

The 20 largest suppliers in the world had an even better year in 2004 with some posting revenue gains in excess of $600 million.

By Jeff O'Neill, Associate Editor -- Modern Materials Handling, 8/1/2005

As strong as lift truck sales were worldwide in 2003, they proved to be even stronger in 2004. That's the top line of this year's special report on the world's 20 largest lift truck suppliers.

Looking just at the top five on the list—Toyota, Linde, Jungheinrich, NACCO Industries and Mitsubishi/Caterpillar Forklift Companies—collective sales increased $1.75 billion in 2004. Toyota, in particular, maintained its top ranking with a $660 million revenue increase to $4.89 billion. Meanwhile, Linde's numbers climbed 16.3% or $631 million to $4.49 billion in 2004 to hold onto the second spot.

Jungheinrich finished the year in the third spot with $2.07 billion in total revenue. In fourth is NACCO Industries at $1.9 billion. Meanwhile, Mitsubishi/Cat pushed its way into fifth with $1.3 billion. That allowed Mitsubishi/Cat to edge out Crown ($1.23 billion) which was in the fifth spot last time around.

The top five were not alone in having a good 2004. Lift truck orders soared globally, posting a 17% jump over 2003. Total orders worldwide in 2004 exceeded 704,000, compared to barely over 600,000 the previous year. These numbers are from the World Industrial Truck Statistics, a global alliance of industrial truck associations.

Africa saw a 39% boom in orders, while Oceania reported a 32% jump to more than 16,000 orders. Asia and the Americas both had a strong year with 16% and 13% gains, respectively. And for the second consecutive year, Europe was the most sluggish mover, posting only a 3% increase in lift truck orders over the prior year, according to the World Industrial Truck Statistics.

While more orders certainly helped to boost revenues, a surge in the Euro and Yen last year also added to the counts.

To be eligible for Modern's top lift truck suppliers survey, companies must manufacture and sell lift trucks in at least one of the Industrial Lift Truck Association's seven classes of lift trucks. Rankings are based on revenue during each company's most recent fiscal year.

Among the top 10 companies on this year's list, all experienced significant gains, ranging between 10% and 15% compared to 2003. Komatsu joined the ranks of billion dollar companies and held fast at number 7 by posting sales of $1.025 billion in 2004—$87 million higher than 2003. TCM slipped from the eighth slot to the ninth even though revenue increased $90 million to nearly $760 million. Nissan, however, had an even stronger year, increasing revenues from $650 million in 2003 to $828 million this time, pushing into the eighth spot. Rounding out the top 10 is Nichiyu.

This year, Manitou jumped a few notches into the top 12 with an impressive year over year increase to $300 million in 2004—leapfrogging both Clark and Atlet. Holding on to fifteenth position in this year's survey, Rocla posted impressive gains of over $20 million in 2004. That's nearly a 40% increase in sales over 2003, easily breaking the $100 million mark for annual revenues.

Although some jockeying for position is seen in this year's survey, the top 20 has remained intact. Tailift was the list's biggest mover this year in terms of positions on the list, rising from number 19 last time to 16 now. Strong international sales and market expansion helped boost revenues for the Taiwan-based manufacturer, according to the supplier.

Reassuring gains were not only seen among the lift truck behemoths this year as smaller players also enjoyed a good year. Hoist, Hyundai and Landoll all experienced at least moderate gains or stayed static from large increases in 2003. Anhui Heli, debuting in 2003, continues to hold onto the final spot in our list with an estimated 10% gain over 2003 numbers.

As made evident by economic indicators, 2005 should turn out to be a very strong year for lift truck sales, at least in North America. A year from now we'll see which companies made the most of it.

Lift truck leaders

Rank	Company	2004 Worldwide Sales Revenue, $	North American Brands	World Headquarters
Estimated sales *Does not sell into the North American market
1	Toyota	$4.89 billion	Toyota, Raymond, BT Prime Mover	Aichi, Japan
2	Linde	$4.49 billion	Linde	Wiesbaden, Germany
3	Jungheinrich	$2.07 billion	Jungheinrich, Multiton	Hamburg, Germany
4	NACCO Industries	$1.90 billion	Hyster, Yale	Portland, Ore.
5	Mitsubishi/Caterpillar	$1.30 billion	Mitsubishi, Cat	Sagamihara, Japan
6	Crown	$1.23 billion	Crown	New Bremen, Ohio
7	Komatsu	$1.03 billion	Komatsu, Kalmar AC	Tokyo, Japan
8	Nissan	$828 million	Nissan, Barrett	Tokyo, Japan
9	TCM	$759 million	TCM	Tokyo, Japan
10	Nichiyu	$357 million*	**	Kyoto, Japan
11	Daewoo	$321 million	Daewoo	Seoul, South Korea
12	Manitou	$300 million	K-D Manitou	Ancenis, France
13	Atlet	$250 million	Atlet	Molnlycke, Sweden
14	Clark	$237 million*	Clark	Lexington, Ky.
15	Rocla	$108 million	**	Jarvenpaa, Finland
16	Tailift	$65 million	Tailift	Taichung Hsien, Taiwan
17	Hoist Liftruck	$55 million*	Hoist, Schreck, Autolift, Elwell Parker	Bedford Park, Ill.
18	Hyundai	$46 million*	Hyundai	Emsung, South Korea
19	Landoll	$25 million*	Bendi, PivotMast, Drexel	Marysville, Kan.
20	Anhui Heli	$22 million*	Heli	Hefei, Anhui, China

Click the icon to see how the lift truck suppliers' rank changed from last year. (Lift truck giants - August 2004)

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