A short month ago, we wrote about the €19 million investment HIAB committed to transforming its Multilift factory in Raisio, Finland. On August 20^th, they laid the foundation cornerstone.

It’s a giant step, an exciting milestone and worthy of celebration. Whether you’re a Multilift lover, truck-mounted hooklift operator or fleet manager, own a business that needs a truck-mounted forklift (everything from construction to landscaping and defence) or are people like Atlas Polar, who distribute and service Multilift hooklifts through our authorized dealers across Canada and sell and service them here in Ontario, it’s really good news. Multilift truck-mounted hooklifts are the #1 selling hooklift in Canada and in demand. The new facility means we can meet demand better than ever.

It was nice to see the team at the Multilift plant in Raisio attend a special ceremony and mark the historic occasion by placing a time capsule in the stone. It contains many items to preserve the moment for future generations, including historical images from Hiab’s history in Raisio, photos of the latest MULTILIFT products TALON and the new OPTIMA truck-mounted hooklifts, HIAB releases about the expansion, a copy of the local daily newspaper, a rendering of the new facility and an undisclosed good-luck token.

The new Multilift manufacturing expansion goes beyond increased production capacity of the world’s most popular truck-mounted hooklifts. It will also modernize both the production and office facilities to be more efficient, scalable, and future-ready, and take a significant step toward lower emissions and greater energy efficiency. The Raisio Multilift manufacturing expansion is expected to be completed in late 2027. You can bet that we’ll be sharing more about it.