The complete history of the development of The - The Linde Group

70
1985
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the Soviet
Communist Party.
Linde Series 351 forklifts were the bestselling forklifts in Europe from
1985 to mid-2003.
The R50 electric truck was the STILL successor model in the 1980s.
N o 3580 Coupling of the lifting
equipment on the driver protection roof.
Calculated expansion of industrial truck business
Since the late 1960s, Hans Meinhardt gave special attention to
the new business in industrial trucks. In order to grow as quickly
as possible into a leading market position, this sector had to
strengthen itself through company acquisitions.
The first good opportunity came in 1973, when the Quandt
Group wanted to sell STILL GmbH in Hamburg, which was
especially strong in the area of forklifts with electric motors.
The takeover was finalized in November 1973. Since that time,
Linde has had two company groups manufacturing within the
Forklift plant group: Güldner and STILL.
Multi-brand strategy
In order that no market share would be lost due to the merger,
the two brands continued to operate separately from and in
competition with one another. This strategy would continue
even after the later acquisition of two foreign competitors: In
1977, Linde purchased a majority share in the American industrial
truck manufacturer Baker Material Handling Corporation; in
1984 Linde succeeded in advancing to the world’s top group in
this industry with the purchase of France’s largest manufacturer
of forklifts, Fenwick Manutention S.A.
From 1985 until the takeover of AGA in 1999 this segment,
which was split into two groups, “Linde FH” (which in German
stands for industrial trucks and hydraulics) and “STILL,” was the
largest division of Linde AG.
Linde took further steps in its expansion to become the
world’s leading industrial truck supplier:
• The gradual takeover of Wagner Fördertechnik GmbH & Co. KG
in Reutlingen (between 1986 and 1991)
• Cooperation with Asea Truck AB in Sweden, which added
heavy electric trucks to the STILL product line
• The takeover of British forklift manufacturer Lansing Bagnall Ltd.
in 1989
• Majority participation in FIAT OM Carrelli Elevatori S.p.A. in
Milan (1992)
• The founding of the Linde-Xiamen joint venture in China
• The cooperation with Komatsu Forklift Ltd., Tokyo