Crown Equipment Co has acquired certain assets of Material Handling Equipment Co (MHE), its Utah representative since 1969, and opened a factory outlet in Salt Lake City.

Crown spokesman Dave Helmstetter told the Enterprise Business Newspaper that the new company, operating as Crown Lift Trucks, would employ 35 workers, many of them former MHE workers. MHE president Robert Clark said he would phase out his firm this year.

The new facility, managed by David Beers, will handle sales, rentals, parts and service for Crown products, and be a dealer for Komatsu and E-Z-Go machines.

Crown is one of the world's largest forklift manufacturers. The company, founded in 1945 by brothers Carl and Allen Dicke, began making materials handling equipment in the 1950s.