Electric Forklift Distributor Big Lift Unveils New Headquarters

DeFOREST, Wis. — Electric forklift and automated equipment distributor Big Lift on Wednesday officially unveiled a new, nearly 120,000-square-foot headquarters complex in southern Wisconsin.

Andy Szal/Industrial DistributionA crowd of company officials and local leaders attended a morning ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new hub, located in a suburban Madison industrial park.

The site will include the company’s engineering, sales and marketing, and administrative functions, among others. It is expected to be staffed by more than 50 employees.

Big Lift, a subsidiary of China-based EP Equipment and the distributor of Big Joe and EP North America equipment, operates distribution centers in four states: Illinois, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin, which is home to the original — and recently revamped — Big Joe factory in Wisconsin Dells.

“Wisconsin is especially meaningful to us,” Big Lift President Dan Rosskamm said at the event.

Andy Szal/Industrial DistributionRosskamm said the new headquarters campus would bolster Big Lift’s efforts to anticipate the market for material handling equipment. The company says it has become the world’s largest provider of smaller, Class 3 forklifts as the material-handling sector shifts from lifts powered by internal combustion engines to ones featuring lithium-ion batteries.

Big Lift also harbors ambitions of becoming the industry leader in both Class 1 lifts and in autonomous lift trucks. The DeForest campus, in particular, will focus on the company’s autonomous systems, Rosskamm said.

Between the new headquarters and the overhauled Wisconsin Dells plant, Rosskamm said Big Lift hopes to make Wisconsin “the leader in electric lift trucks.”