A unit of Wolter Group LLC has acquired Scott Lift Truck Corp of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, according to Otto J Wolter, the group's founder and CEO.
The acquisition on behalf of the group's Illinois Material Handling unit was completed on 31 August. Terms were not disclosed.
"This is a win-win for customers of Scott Lift Truck and Illinois Material Handling," says Jerry Weidmann, president of Wolter Group. "The Scott team of proven managers and technicians will strengthen our service and presence in the marketplace, now from two (Illinois) locations - Elk Grove Village and Rockford."
Illinois Material Handling in Elk Grove Village employs 25, including nine maintenance and repair technicians, and represents the Hyundai, Komatsu, Lowry, Noble, JLG and PowerBoss brands.
Key Scott Lift Truck executives have assumed new positions in Elk Grove Village. Loren Swakow is branch manager. He became Scott Lift Truck president in January 2007 and served as the 2004 president of the Material Handling Equipment Distributors' Association.
His brother, Scott, formerly Scott Lift Truck vice president of sales and marketing, is now regional sales manager. Denise Bridges serves as the branch's operations manager.
Scott Lift Trucks has a four-decade history primarily serving Chicago's north-west suburbs. The oldest Swakow brother, Paul, joined the business in1972 in its infancy and, in 1977, bought out his partner and recruited Loren as a minority owner. The youngest brother, Scott, joined the business in 1980.
Illinois Material Handling leases 35,000 sqft. (3,251 sqm) in a 65,000 sqft. (6,039 sqm) building that Paul, Loren and Scott Swakow own through SLP Realty.
"The location and design of their facility, their customer base and their reputation for superior customer service made Scott Lift an excellent opportunity for the expansion of Illinois Material Handling's business," Weidmann says. "Scott Lift Truck owners Loren and Scott Swakow saw the transaction as an excellent opportunity to continue the legacy of Scott Lift Truck and to take care of their customer base while expanding the capabilities they can offer their customers."
The Wolter Group's other Illinois Material Handling site is located at an interstate highway-accessible facility in south-east Rockford.
Operations of the Brookfield-based Wolter Group employ 340, serve more than 10,000 customers in Wisconsin, northern Illinois and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and represent at least 42 brands of forklifts, aerial lift systems, other materials handling equipment and various storage and industrial devices.
Wolter Group's materials handling division consists of Illinois Material Handling in the northern Illinois market, Wisconsin Lift Truck Corp for most Wisconsin operations and Wolter Material Handling for western Wisconsin operations.
Other Wolter Group divisions include Contractors Equipment Services for aerial and construction equipment, Fleet Management Services and Wolter Power Systems for engines and generators.
Equipment leasing entity Wolter Investment Co LLC is an affiliate.
The history of Illinois Material Handling goes back to the business starting in 1984 as Illinois Lift Truck Corp in Addison, Illinois.
"In 1984, Wisconsin Lift Truck opened the Rockford facility as a branch of Wisconsin Lift Truck," Weidmann recalls.
Wisconsin Lift Truck acquired Fiorenza Material Handling Inc, which had Illinois facilities in Rockford and Elgin, and combined operations of Illinois Lift Truck, Fiorenza and the Rockford branch of Wisconsin Lift Truck under the Illinois Material Handling name.
Subsequently, "in 2006, our Illinois Material Handling operations were exchanged with what is now Equipment Depot of Illinois for their Material Handling Services (MHS) operation in Wisconsin," Weidmann says. "This was done to allow Equipment Depot to have Cat and Mitsubishi (MHS in Illinois had been just Mitsubishi) and Wisconsin Lift Truck Corp to be both Cat and Mitsubishi in Wisconsin (Wisconsin Lift had been Cat only in Illinois and Wisconsin). When we did the deal with Pon (Equipment Depot of Illinois), they leased the Rockford facility from us for five years. The lease expired in July of 2011. The Rockford facility is now an Illinois Material Handling facility."