The story of Konecranes Lift Trucks

The province of Småland, in southern Sweden, is the world’s heartland of heavy-duty lift trucks. Småland has a greater concentration of heavy-duty lift truck companies, history, heritage, craftsmanship and passion for the industry than any other part of the world.

Småland became the world’s heartland of heavy-duty lift trucks thanks to its wood industry and the pragmatic nature of its hard-working people. Småland is agriculturally poor but rich in trees: 50% of its surface area is covered by forest. Wood has been an essential part of the province’s economy for hundreds of years.

Motorized tractors were first used by Smålanders in the 1890s and 1900s. Some were adapted for wood harvesting by adding home-made masts and forks. By the 1930s, local entrepreneurs were making and selling lift trucks for logging and stacking, showing considerable ingenuity.

Those rough-and-ready early lift trucks were trailblazers, driving the productivity and profitability of their owners’ businesses. By the 1970s, Småland boasted a number of important lift truck companies doing business across Scandinavia, Europe and the world.

The history of Konecranes Lift Trucks dates back to the 1950s and the beginning of the modern era of the lift truck business. In 1959 our first lift truck was shipped from our factory in southern Sweden. We put our heart into that first delivery, making the truck with great care and craftsmanship.

Today, over half a century later, our attitude is exactly the same. We have worked hard to provide each of our customers with lift trucks that are built for the world they are working in, regardless of industry, lifting capacity or other challenges. Our mission is to find that perfect match, even if it requires us to go to the drawing table and design a brand new solution.

We now sell and service our lift trucks all over the world as part of Konecranes, the world's leading provider of smarter lifting equipment and service. Visit our production facilities and you'll find a close-knit community of people with a common passion: making the hardest-working, longest-lived lift trucks in the world.

Konecranes is leading the way from the world’s heartland of lift trucks.

1995- A complete new truck range, Generation A, is launched, including forklifts, container lift trucks and reach stackers. The very first truck was ordered by Vin & Sprit in Åhus, Sweden. 

1998 – We build and deliver the, at the time, world’s largest reach stacker for handling containers on river barges (to handle negative lifts) for customer Dörpener Umschlaggesellschaft (DUK) in north-east Germany who want to expand its river transportation business. The result is the SMV 4545 TA3 which stays in operation for 15 years. 
 

2004  – Our second and improved range of lift trucks, Generation B, is introduced and the products are launched over the coming few years . The first Gen B truck is  reach stacker delivered to Absolut vodka – formerly Vin & Sprit. 

2006 - We also introduce a new range of 10-16 ton forklifts with higher performance and a new range of empty container handlers with 4-6 high single stacking and 8 tons capacity. Factory and offices expands for an increased annual production capacity.

2013 – We acquire the container handling lift truck business of KION Group's Linde brand. 

2014 – We introduce Konecranes Lift Trucks Academy, our own training portal where employees, partners and customers can take multiple courses to become experts on our machines and services

2017 - With the acquisition we welcome our new robust, standardized product family: Konecranes Liftace

2018 – Konecranes launches the Ecolifting concept with the aim to reduce customers’ fuel consumption, on-site emissions and overall carbon footprint without decreasing performance

We launch a 152 ton hook reach stacker aimed for the wind energy market in partnership with our Scandinavian distributor N.C Nielsen. We also celebrate 25 years with a big celebration at the Markaryd site together with our colleagues and founders. 

2021- We receive the largest order ever of 39 lift trucks from the German Bundeswehr (Federal Armed Forces).  We also celebrate a major milestone delivering our 10.000th lift truck to our long-standing customer The Absolut Company in Åhus, Sweden. Coincidentally, they also bought our first commercial reach stacker in 1995.   

To learn more about this standard read our press release.

To read more about E-ACE, click HERE.