MARENGO – The 200,000th forklift rolled off the assembly line at Nissan Forklift Corp. last year, but the Marengo company isn’t concerned with benchmarks. It is committed to doing the heavy lifting needed for the long haul.

Considering the company – a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan’s Nissan Motor Co. – did not begin producing forklifts here until 1988, its dossier of accomplishments is remarkable. It took 14 years to reach the 100,000 production milestone and just 10 years to double that. From start to finish, production of a forklift takes 3 1/2 days.

"We are very proud of our transformation over the past decade,” said Tony Salgado, vice president of manufacturing operations for Nissan Forklift. “As an organization, we have become significantly more effective and efficient in delivering value to our market, while serving and respecting our employees and the community."