Manufacturing & Supply Chain

Load handling equipment provider Hiab has announced it is investing over €50 million to develop a new Factory of the Future in Dundalk, County Louth, for its MOFFETT truck mounted forklift manufacturing operations. When operational in 2023, the new facility will replace Hiab’s existing Dundalk facility. It will include the company’s manufacturing operations and a global hub for innovation and R&D both catering for the rapidly growing global truck mounted forklift sector.

Over 100 new jobs will be created during the construction phase where the latest environmental and engineering design solutions will be used to create a modern plant that minimises its carbon footprint. With record global demand for its truck mounted forklifts, Hiab has also announced the immediate recruitment of an additional 100 new roles to add to the current 300 workforce at its existing Dundalk facility, as well as the establishment of a second production facility in Streetsboro, Ohio, USA where the company makes tail lifts sold under the WALTCO brand.

Hiab is the world’s leading provider of on-road load handling equipment, intelligent services, smart and connected solutions. It has a global market leading position in the truck mounted forklift sector which revolutionised the transportation industry in the 1980s with the design of the MOFFETT truck mounted forklift. Customers range from single truck owner-operators and small fleet owners to international fleet and rental companies, across private and public sectors. Its products serve a range of industries including construction, waste management, recycling, forestry, fire rescue, agriculture and landscaping.

Rogier van der Linde, Senior Vice President for Truck Mounted Forklifts at Hiab, said: “Hiab’s operation in Dundalk is a key part of the company’s global success story. It has been home to innovation and production of truck mounted forklifts since 1986. It will continue to lead the world in new product development and solutions that ultimately help other business sectors be more effective and efficient in their transportation operations.  When completed, our new facility will have world-class manufacturing capacity to service all markets globally. Importantly the new facility will include Cargotec’s global centre for innovation and R&D in the truck mounted forklift segment, continuing a long and successful tradition of innovation in Dundalk. This will enable our world-class R&D team here to meet the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow, providing intelligent services and smart solutions for enhancing electrification, connectivity, as well as identifying new innovations to meet our customers’ changing needs.”

Rogier van der Linde said that Hiab is currently at an advanced stage of identifying a suitable site in the greater Dundalk area and expects this to be operational in 2023. He added that the company is also acting immediately to meet unprecedented global demand for its machines.

He commented: “While we are developing our new facility here in Dundalk, we are not standing still. We are looking to hire 100 new staff for roles at our current Dundalk facility. The majority of the roles are for general operators with mechanical skills in addition to support roles in Manufacturing Engineering, R&D Engineering, Quality, Warehousing and Planning. We are seeing remarkable uplift in demand for our products both here in Europe and indeed in the US. We are planning for now as well as for our continued success in the future. The establishment of a second facility for the production of truck mounted forklifts in Ohio is to deliver high volume manufacturing capacity for the US market. Whilst, our new Dundalk facility will continue to produce machines for the US market it will also have additional focus and capacity to meet accelerating demand in our growing European and Rest of World markets.”

CAPTION:

Pictured are Rogier van de Linde, Senior Vice President, with Maeve Gallagher, Operations Director, Hiab, at the announcement that the world leading load handling equipment provider is investing over €50 million to develop a new Factory of the Future in Dundalk, for its MOFFETT truck mounted forklift manufacturing operations.