Dealer group Wolter, Inc. is celebrating 60 years of business and growth. 

The Wolter, Inc. story began in 1962, when Otto Wolter founded LPM Parts & Service, later named Wisconsin Lift Truck, out of a two-car garage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

Starting as an aftermarket parts supplier, Wolter quickly expanded into service and used materials handling equipment sales. From there, the company took on new forklift lines and began to grow the business organically. 

In 1995, Otto Wolter began looking to accelerate growth through acquisition, starting with Fiorenza Material Handling, Illinois and adding another dozen entities before acquiring Valley Industrial Crane in Ohio this year.

"Wolter began as and continues to be a family business - a family business that does not just speak to the family members of the founder, but to a set of values that the business is based around," explains Jerry Weidmann, Wolter president. "Our values determine the way we care for one another, the way we work together, and the way we take care of our customers."

Weidmann tells Forkliftaction News that the industry has seen some significant changes over Wolter’s 60-year history, including consolidation, which has seen the number of dealers continuously declining; disintermediation, with Crown building the factory store model and Raymond owning the majority of its distribution; and an increasing number of dealers offering materials handling storage systems in addition to powered industrial trucks.

Product changes include the shift from internal combustion to electric. “Electric is beginning the shift from lead acid batteries to lithium,” he adds.

“These trends (and others) impact our customers and the way we do business. To compete in today’s business environment, we have modified our business to mirror the trends upon which business is conducted. Each trend impacts every department or division in our business,” he explains.

Weidmann boasts that 50% of Wolter’s staff have been with the business (including time with companies acquired) for 10 or more years. “Our success today is built on the foundation of our long-term employees. Our long-term employees have led us through the technological revolution upon which so many of the business trends rely,” he adds.

Wolter currently serves more than 25,000 industrial and commercial customers in Wisconsin, Upper Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky and Missouri. It employs over 550 employees - more than 200 of them technicians.