 Moffett, the inventor of the truck-mounted forklift truck concept, celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. |
Manufacturer Moffett will celebrate its 70th anniversary this year.
"This is a significant year for Moffett as we celebrate our 70th anniversary with our customers, drivers, and the global Moffett team," says Keith Quigley, senior vice president, truck-mounted forklifts at Hiab. "We invented the truck-mounted forklift truck concept, and we pride ourselves that throughout our history, we have always worked closely with our customers to provide bespoke solutions to support their businesses."
Founded by Cecil Moffett in 1945 in Clontibret, Ireland, the company began as a small engineering workshop producing agricultural machinery for the family farm and other local businesses.
In 1986, the company invented the Moffett Mounty, a compact three-wheeled forklift that could be transported on the back of almost any delivery truck or trailer.
The truck-mounted forklift was unique because, while it did not replace the traditional warehouse-based forklift, it could perform the same functions of lifting, carrying, loading and offloading.
Today, Moffett is sold in 45 countries and offers specialist machines, with a range of options, for many industries, including building, gas, poultry, agriculture, recycling, beverage, road distribution, fire and rescue, and utilities.
Moffett boasts that its factory in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland is the centre of excellence for truck-mounted forklift truck research and development. The 227 employees follow a "never-ending product improvement policy, offering leading-edge solutions with a customer-focused mind-set".
"We have a passionate team at Moffett," says Carl Gustaf Göransson, senior vice president, sales and markets. "We continuously invest in innovative technology to meet our customers' logistics and material handling challenges, and I am proud that we have the engineering excellence in-house to be able to adapt our products to whatever needs they have, both now and in the future."
In 2013, Moffett launched the E-series-ProFuture, which it claims is the world's first lithium-ion powered truck-mounted forklift, designed to operate in urban environments where access is restricted and low noise and no emissions are demanded.
As part of the 70th anniversary celebrations, the company will hold events including a Moffett World Championship, fundraising for charity, and is planning some anniversary sales offers.
Moffett is part of Cargotec's Hiab business area. Around 2,600 professionals work at Hiab, whose product range includes HIAB loader cranes, JONSERED recycling and forestry cranes, Loglift forestry cranes, Multilift demountables, as well as Del, Waltco and Zepro tail lifts.
Separately, Hiab has received an order worth approximately USD10 million for Moffett truck-mounted forklifts from Lowe's, a North American company with over 1,840 home improvement and hardware stores in the US.
Hiab sales director Ronald Verzijl says: "We are very proud of being Lowe's partner. We have had a long-lasting relationship with them since 1996 and delivered loader cranes as well as truck-mounted forklifts over the years."
The order is a continuation of the contract for truck-mounted forklifts Lowe's awarded in 2014.