Nacco Materials Handling Group (NMHG) is expected to complete a USD4.8 million project that will consolidate assembly functions and increase storage capabilities at its Greenville facility by the end of this year.

Project manager Judy Butts told The Daily Reflector an 18,000 sqft (1,672 m²) storage facility, the first of three phases of construction, could be ready by the end of April. A 12,000 sqft (1,115m²) building is targeted for completion in the northern hemisphere summer while conversion of the warehouse for very narrow aisle operation will be finished by the end of 2008.

"This kind of top-of-the-line warehousing equipment will be used and will become a showplace not only for our employees but, just as importantly, for our customers," Butts says, adding that customers often visit the facility.

Butts says the plant expansion will increase NMHG's competitiveness and "position the company for the future".

NMHG, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, is one of the world's largest forklift manufacturers. It manufactures and distributes Hyster and Yale forklifts.

The Greenville facility is at 5200 Martin Luther King Jr Highway.