An artist's impression of Combilift USA's new building in North Carolina

Irish multi-directional forklift manufacturer Combilift has opened its first overseas, wholly-owned subsidiary company in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Combilift vice president for marketing Eamon Devlin said the main purpose of the new subsidiary, Combilift USA, was to sell spare parts to Combilift's growing dealer network and customers and to provide technical support to its dealers.

Eleven staff members provide support services at the new company. Combilift bought a warehouse in Greensboro and put more than USD1 million of spare parts in its inventory to provide back-up for its 45 US dealers.

"Combilift now has more than 3,000 internal combustion four-way forklifts successfully in operation. We have plans to produce more than 1,200 units in 2005 and annual growth is forecast at 30 per cent to 35 per cent for the next five years," Devlin said.

Combilift claims to be the world's largest manufacturer in unit sales of four-way forklifts and side-loading equipment. It exports more than 96 per cent of its production and its top overseas markets are Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.