A man with visions
For 50 years Atlet has developed new and innovative solutions for the internal material handling market.
Operating from a head quarter in Gothenburg, Sweden, Atlet offers its customers an unrivalled range of fork lift and warehousing solution products including low-level pickers, pedestrian stackers and reach trucks.
The Atlet story began back in 1958 when Knut Jacobsson first established the company in a two-roomed flat at Korsgatan in the centre of Gothenburg. This small business grew steadily over the next few years until in 1964 Elitmaskiner, as it was then known, moved to new premises more suited for production in Kållered, just south of Gothenburg.
Continued growth and expansion meant a further relocation of the business was required eight years later. This second move, to a newly built facility in Mölnlycke, provided the organisation with excellent possibilities for future growth. At this time the name of the company was also changed and Atlet, as we know it today, was born. Today the organisation employs in excess of 1000 people, has activities in more than 30 countries around the world and boasts a combined turnover of around 185 million euros.
During its formative years as a company, Atlet manufactured hand pallet trucks and the first three of these machines were delivered in the autumn of 1958. A further 30 trucks were delivered in 1959 and the year after the production was doubled to 60 trucks.
At this time pedestrian stackers and reach trucks were dominating the internal material handling market but Knut was determined to bring innovation and something new to the sector. The result of this was the Standstacker, which offered lift capacities comparable with the reach truck but in more narrow aisles, all thanks to its patented side stabilisers.
At this relatively early stage Knut recognised the opportunities available in overseas markets and subsequently began to export the products, with fork lift trucks being first sold into Norway in 1962 and Holland two years later. This growing overseas business lead Atlet to establish its first subsidiary company in the UK in 1969, which was joined by a German equivalent in 1976. Today Atlet has additional subsidiaries in France, Benelux, Norway, Denmark and the US.