Prior to his current role as executive director of Forkliftaction, Michael Leu managed a forklift sales and rental company in Brisbane, Australia.

Having established the business himself, Leu had a first-hand understanding of the challenges involved in forming relationships or trying to do business with overseas-based suppliers and customers.

A world away from what we enjoy today, at that time, prospecting for new products and business contacts involved trawling phone books, collecting business cards at trade shows, and the like.

After 15 years of this, having been introduced to the World Wide Web, Leu was able to dream big; he was able to imagine a world in which it was possible to do away with the phone books and business cards and use the internet to establish and develop business relationships.

“Forkliftaction was built from that revelation,” says Ann Hofmans, CEO of the platform, which this month is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

“Leu’s idea was to connect the world of materials handling; to connect forklift brands to markets worldwide, connect buyers to suppliers, and help everyone working with forklifts keep informed on the brands, suppliers, products and emerging technologies in materials handling.”

The early days

On July 7, 2000, a holding page on the domain Forkliftaction.com allowed users to add their email addresses to a mailing list, and the first news edition was published.

And with that, the world’s first online news service dedicated solely to the materials handling sector was born.

Created in text format, the first news edition was sent by email to just 50 of Leu’s business associates. Six months later, at the end of 2000, that list had grown to more than 2,000.

Bernard De Meester, a current member of the board at TVH Global NV, a global supplier of parts for forklifts and other industrial vehicles, was one of those early subscribers.

“I had always seen having a truly neutral independent newsletter about our industry, as a fantastic idea,” says De Meester. “There is so much happening in our forklift industry that it is always nice to see how you get all this information, from all over the globe, into one newsletter.”

In line with this type of positive reception, over time, Forkliftaction’s subscriber list has grown steadily – from 9,500 subscribers in December 2001, to 50,000-plus on the news service’s 10th anniversary; to the current figure of 73,000-plus opt-in subscribers.

Over the years, a couple of key factors have contributed to this growth. The first relates to the environment in which the platform was launched.

Though the World Wide Web essentially came into being (along with HTML code to create web pages and browsers to view them) in 1991, it really began to make its mark in the mid-90s with the introduction of the first dynamic web products.

“Websites became data-driven, e-commerce was born, and the World Wide Web was now ready to transform into the new playing field for business,” says Hofmans.

“It was an exciting time. Anything appeared to be possible and investments seemed watertight. Massive amounts of money were spent on e-commerce stock, and websites like Amazon and eBay were born.”

Backed by big investors, the tech world was rapidly developing numerous online systems. However, despite the apparent optimism, a problem was developing. Much of the positivity was unrealistic and investment was happening faster than the marketplace could handle.

“In early 2000, when the founding Forkliftaction team designed its own project plan, NASDAQ was close to peaking,” Hofmans continues. “The first signs of a collapse were showing.”

When the dot-com bubble deflated – as it had seemed destined to do – between mid-2000 and 2002, many competing projects such as complex e-commerce and auction platforms for the materials handling industry, disappeared.

Some like Forkliftaction, which had resisted the hype surrounding the internet, survived.

“Forkliftaction chose to implement a long-term vision and to develop its business strategy in line with the way the materials handling industry was adapting to the World Wide Web,” says Hofmans.

Evolution and growth

Guided by that initial notion of facilitating connection, the organisation resolved to listen to its audience and to evolve gradually.

So, what did the platform look like 25 years ago? And how has it changed over time?

Approximately 18 months after its launch, in December 2001, the above-mentioned holding page was replaced by the Forkliftaction website. 

The first purpose-built resource of its kind focussed on materials handling, it featured an archive of published news, ‘Spec-Checker’ (a catalogue of forklift models with specifications), an events calendar, a list of open equipment tenders, a job section with vacancies and resumes, and a content and subscriber management system. 

Noting that a lot of people, at that time, used the internet to find contacts, in 2003 the platform added a materials handling Business Directory. 

“Then, in 2004, we began to encourage interactivity on our website with the launch of our Discussion Forums,” says Hofmans.

Focussed on technical issues and the daily concerns of industry professionals, these forums represent a key development.

Danny Maron, president of Ideal Forklift Training (a training organisation based in Ontario, Canada) was an early participant. As Maron tells the story, in 2005, when asked a tricky question by a trainee, he turned to the internet for a response.

“As I continued to search, I came across a site named Forkliftaction. When I clicked the link and reviewed the first page, I was taken back by all the information that was available regarding powered industrial lift trucks,” says Maron.

Continuing to browse, he came across the platform’s ‘Discussion Forums’. 

“My eyes scrolled down the list looking for something that would pique my interest, and there it was – ‘Safety, training, and legislation’. That is what I do, and that is where my expertise lies,” he adds.

From that point, Maron became a regular contributor to the Discussion Forums. So regular, in fact, that he has since gone on to contribute numerous of his own safety blogs to the platform. 

An industry professional, who has personally been involved in forklift training for 25-plus years, Maron notes that he is more likely to contribute to the platform than seek new information from it. Still, he emphasises his surprise at first finding the platform and congratulates the business on reaching its 25-year milestone.

Following the Discussion Forums, the next key developments included the introduction, in 2005, of a marketplace for the trading of used equipment; and the launch of the platform’s Virtual Expo in 2020.

Fast-tracked by the COVID-19 pandemic, this last development was followed just last month (in June 2025) by a further Discussion Forum update.

The role of advertisers

As the platform evolved and these changes came into play, Forkliftaction’s relationship with advertisers was also changing.

During the earliest years of the platform, from its launch in 2000 until roughly 2005, business-to business (B2B) advertisers focused largely on sponsored search results and Google AdWords, as a first step away from print advertising.

“Marketers were still very reluctant to invest in online ads on other platforms,” says Hofmans. “It was only in 2006 that they started to look at targeted advertising.”

For this reason, the Forkliftaction team was genuinely excited to sign up its first advertisers. 

In July 2002, two years after the launch of Forkliftaction News, US company Keytroller became its first advertiser. Others soon followed, including Svetruck and Unit Load Handling Systems, in 2002; MSI Forks and Bolzoni Group, in 2003; and both Trelleborg and Heli in 2004.

Carlo Fallarini, global marketing director at Bolzoni Group describes the decision to come on board in 2003 as a new way to communicate with a geographically, and now numerically, large audience.

“It changed our way of presenting our products to the market and also increased what we know about our customers and competitors, especially in terms of the way they communicate,” he says.

According to Hofmans, since those early days of advertising, the Forkliftaction team has worked diligently to provide communication products for advertisers to reach out to its audience, while at the same time, safeguarding its independent finger-on-the-pulse commitment to news. 

“Our platform has become the ideal channel for materials handling companies to keep the market informed,” says Hofmans. 

“We work with our advertisers as partners, flexibly managing their communications; and have developed a positive reputation with them for flexible support and extra care.”

Making a difference

That brings us to where we stand today – a well-established and dynamic resource that records an average of 1,000,000 monthly visits.

Asked about the role Forkliftaction plays in the global materials handling sector, William Montwieler – the former executive director of the Industrial Truck Association (ITA), an organisation representing the manufacturers and suppliers of forklifts who do business in Canada, the US or Mexico – has an interesting take.

Having served in the above-mentioned role from 1983 to 2011, Montwieler points out that ITA has led the charge when it comes to workplace safety, working with governments to develop operator safety training programs, and so on.

“You [at Forkliftaction], with your emphasis on Forklift Safety Day, which was the bright idea of my successor Brian Feighan, always highlighted that program,” says Montwieler.

Pointing to the alliance of the ITA and other national industry bodies that have dedicated themselves to improving safety, he adds: “The group, working together with a strong outside force like Forkliftaction has helped coordinate our better angels”.

The future

On that positive note, it’s worth asking what the next 25 years hold for Forkliftaction.
According to Hofmans, the platform is continually evolving to meet the rapidly changing needs of materials handling professionals. 

“We have many new developments in the pipeline to continue our mission, to keep connecting the industry, providing quality news, as well as other rich and relevant content,” she says.

Beyond this, by necessity, a lot of work also goes into ensuring the system built over two decades remains in line with current coding frameworks and applications.

“We try to keep a finger on the pulse of how our community reads news, communicates to markets and promotes products,” says Hofmans, adding that artificial intelligence (AI) and the ways it can potentially improve website features and backend processes are also on the radar.

Importantly, in the midst of all this change, some factors remain non-negotiable.

“We will never change the independent, diligent, and reliable news reporting our readers know and value,” Hofmans confirms. “Within an increasingly chaotic and fly-by-night news scene, we think our unwavering news service will remain a beacon of integrity and reliability for our audience.”

In this way, it can be hoped that for the next 25 years and beyond, Forkliftaction will remain a resource that connects the global materials handling industry and contributes to the overall strength of all involved.