The Kalmar DCE 140 to 160 lift trucks are now being assembled at the Kalmar manufacturing plant in Ottawa, Kansas.

Kalmar's North American dealers are pleased that the company has started a forklift assembly line at its Ottawa, Kansas, plant, which originally built and marketed terminal tractors.

"The first Kalmar forklift, a DCE 160, was assembled in April and we are now ahead of our sales plan for US-assembled forklifts," Randy Dennis, Kalmar's North American sales vice president, said in a statement.

"We are mostly assembling Kalmar DCE 140s to 160s (lifting capacities of 14,000kg to 16,000kg)," he said.

"At a dealer meeting, several Kalmar dealers expressed their satisfaction with the decision to start the assembly operation. (They) are thrilled to have easier, quicker access to the product."

Kalmar has 27 North American dealers in more than 170 locations.

Leif Wallin, president of Kalmar Industries Corp, Ottawa, said the new assembly line would shorten build times by up to 60 days, provide greater flexibility, improve parts availability and enhance technical support.

Design control and major component sub-assembly will still be carried out by Kalmar's plant in Ljungby, Sweden. The US-made content of the forklifts will increase as Kalmar plans to phase-in more US-manufactured components, like diesel engines, masts, carriages and forks.