Gerber Company

Cascade makes light work out of heavy weights. The company's materials-handling products -- attachments, forks, and related accessories -- are made for industrial and commercial lift trucks, and, occasionally, construction and agricultural vehicles. Cascade distributes an array of sizes, models, and process capabilities in its line of forklift attachments, handling forks, hydraulic cylinders, as well as replacement parts. The equipment pulls, rotates, tilts, side shifts, clamps, and lifts materials as heavy as major appliances and as mountainous as industrial rolls of paper. In late 2012 Cascade agreed to be acquired by Toyota Industries Corporation, a global builder of forklifts and related lift trucks. Cascade is being bought by Toyota Industries in a transaction valued at $759 million. Toyota Industries is using the deal to broaden the variety of lift trucks that it offers customers. Cascade will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota Industries and caters to OEMs and original equipment dealers (OEDs) of lift trucks in North America, Europe, China, and the Asia/Pacific region. Cascade managed to pull its fiscal 2011 bottom line into the black after suffering a loss of more than $38 million in 2010 (in part attributable to the cost of restructuring). The improvement was less than half of its record earnings in 2008. Cash generated from operations in 2011 dwindled due to an uptick in accounts receivable related to higher sales' volumes. In addition, Cascade has used its excess cash to slash its debt by more than half during the same period. Moving forward, Cascade's growth is focused on the Asia/Pacific region and China, where industrial development coupled with the labor-saving productivity of its material handling equipment has spurred demand. (China was the only market in 2011 to top 2008's peak; its sales climbed nearly 70%.) The company renovated its Korea-based sales/distribution facility. In Japan, it invested in a new sales/distribution facility. Cascade also completed two manufacturing plants and upgraded equipment in China.