Two of the materials handling sectors most well-established companies - Bolzoni and JCB - are celebrating 80th anniversaries this year.

Italian forklift attachment manufacturer Bolzoni recently held a family fun day for staff and their families at its Piacenza plant to celebrate.

Bolzoni was founded in 1945 by brothers Luigi and Livio Bolzoni in a small workshop in the post-war period, and has now transformed from a local entrepreneurial vision into a global project.

The group now has 16 branches, seven production plants and more than 1,300 employees, but says its “beating heart remains in Piacenza, Italy, where the research and development centre, the engine of the group's technological innovation, is also located”.

As well as forklift attachments, forks and lift tables, Bolzoni now also has as focus on automatic and advanced logistics which, it says, “is reflected in the development of solutions for AGVs (autonomous driving trucks) distributed worldwide”.

At the family fun day celebration held at the end of September, Bolzoni CEO Marco Rossi told those attending it was the people who have worked with the company who have managed to help the business be so successful.

“We owe them our thanks, because they have enabled us to survive and remain competitive on the market,” Rossi continues.

“We have many challenges ahead of us, but I am sure that we will face them in the best possible way, thanks to them too.”

Also celebrating its 80th anniversary is UK heavy equipment manufacturer JCB, which was founded by Joseph Cyril Bamford in a lock-up garage in Staffordshire in 1945 with the development of a tipper trailer.

JCB, best known for agricultural and construction machinery, launched its first Loadall telescopic handler in 1972, which has gone on to become one of the company’s most successful products.

In 1997, JCB launched its Teletruk forklift – which can lift and place loads over obstacles. 

By 2016, JCB had produced its 200,000th Loadall telescopic handler.

In 2025 JCB secured the first full EU type-approval for its hydrogen engine for use in non-road mobile machinery. This means the engine is approved for sale and for use in machines and third-party OEM equipment in each of the 27 EU member states, and all other territories recognising EU type-approvals.

JCB chairman Lord Anthony Bamford, who took on the role in 1975 when his father Jospeh retired, says it is an exciting time for the business.

“JCB’s customers are patiently waiting for our hydrogen-powered equipment to make a difference on their job sites,” he adds. “They won’t have much longer to wait.”