The Top 10

Toyota held the No. 1 spot. While the company sold 282,000 units in 2019, representing a 7% increase over 2018, revenues were flat following a 16% spike in 2018. Last year also marked the integration of Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing (TIEM) and Toyota Material Handling USA (TMHU) into Toyota Material Handling (TMH).

In early 2019, Toyota acquired Hoist Liftruck (renamed Hoist Material Handling). Headquartered in East Chicago, Ind., with a 550,000-square-foot factory, Hoist has nearly 25 years of experience manufacturing heavy-duty cushion tire and pneumatic forklifts, reach stackers, container handlers and more, ranging in lift capacity from 7 to 57 tons.

In late 2019, the company introduced Toyota Industrial Energy Solutions, a suite including on-site consultation, environmental support, battery and alternative energy sources, chargers and accessories, and service and repair. This followed the launch of a new line of lithium-ion battery options and a 24/7 online parts store.

At No. 2, KION reported an 8.2% increase in worldwide revenue for industrial trucks, reporting $7.173 billion in its annual report, but a 2.1% decrease in worldwide units sold. The North American market was particularly hard hit with a 7.6% decrease to 266,800 units sold. That was down from 288,800 in 2018. KION’s Asia-Pacific business, on the other hand, showed a 3.9% increase in 2019.

In third place, Jungheinrich reported a 7% increase in revenues despite a similar decrease in incoming orders and units sold, which was down from 121,000 units in 2018 to 112,900 in 2019.

Europe accounted for 87% of revenue, driven by increases in Germany, Austria, Italy and the UK, despite uncertainties surrounding Brexit. New truck business was up 6% and the short-term rental and used equipment business remained unchanged. Revenue from after-sales services increased 8%, and the financial services business exceeded the previous year’s figure by 20%.

The company released several new products in 2019, including a new generation of EKS medium/high level orderpickers with a picking height of 46 feet and lifting speed of 1.6 feet per second. It also released a Cloud-based fleet management solution and a redesigned modular Web tool.

Jungheinrich also acquired ISI Automation, a turnkey automation solution specialist. The company’s products will expand Jungheinrich’s digitalization portfolio in the area between enterprise resource planning and the shop floor.

Jungheinrich and Triathlon launched a joint venture in the field of lithium-ion technology to form JT Energy Systems. A second joint venture with Fricke Group will support the international sale of spare parts, where the two companies see growth potential in the independent aftermarket and e-commerce channel.