Clark's 152,000 square foot facility in Lexington, Kentucky.

Clark parent company Young An Hat Company Ltd is re-establishing manufacturing operations at Clark's US plant with the unveiling of two forklift models this month.

The NPR and ESM forklifts are symbolic of Clark's re-emergence after Young An acquired Clark Material Handling Company for USD7.5 million in 2003. The transaction had ended Clark's bankruptcy, filed in 2000.

Young An made Lexington, Kentucky, USA, Clark's headquarters and sales office while Changwon city, South Korea, was made its manufacturing base (Forkliftaction.com News #92).

Manufacturing, research and development and truck modification operations would take place at Lexington, a Clark statement said.

Dennis Lawrence, Clark president and CEO, said resuming manufacturing in Lexington was a historical milestone for the company.

"This will allow Clark to design and manufacture products in North America specifically for our market. Our long-term goal is to develop a world-class manufacturing environment dealers and customers can be proud of."

According to dhf-intralogistik's 2004-05 world ranking list, Clark Material Handling, ranked number 15, made EUR201 million (USD254 million) in forklift sales for 2004, up 95 per cent from 2003's EUR103 million (USD130 million). Young An Hat Company Ltd's total group sales for 2004 were EUR694 million(USD877 million) and EUR516 million (USD652 million) for 2003. The group had 7,145 employees, 1,000 in its materials handling company, in 2004 (Forkliftaction.com News #253).