在1952年，John Haswell 先生还为密歇根州底特律一个大型工模具制造厂的雇员，他梦想着有属于自己的工模具公司，最终他成立了金属冲压厂，也就是今天Master Craft公司的前身。。随着机会的增长，Haswell 给予了充分利用，他的公司业务如此的繁忙以致于要推掉一些业务，这样他买下了别的厂来开发这些机会。
在Haswell的地下室，其晚上与周末都忙碌在为大底特律区域的金属冲压公司制造铸模，不久后，这家企业从他的地下室搬至他的车库，并保持着持续的成长与兴旺。
不用说，下面的是历史：
十年内，业务增长的如此之快，Haswell先生将生产从车库搬至更大的厂区，直到搬至一个容纳200多员工的生产厂。设备的尺寸与动力也成戏剧般地增长。Haswell的公司的客户也从仅有的一家增长到100多家，同时，其产量也从10吨增长到3,000多吨，Haswell 先生一度扩张的客户包括财富500强的福特、通用与克莱斯特。这一迅速成长的企业为汽车、卡车及工业与农场牵引车制造了百万的金属冲压件、机车滑轮与大量的组装配件。到20世纪70年代，Haswell 先生的事业已扩张到系统制造与组装，福特牵引车公司与Master Craft签订了协议，包括为其100辆车载反铲挖土机制造配件与提供组装。
车载反铲挖土机系统是如此的成功，Haswell 先生决定尝试开发独一无二的生产线——越野叉车。Haswell 回忆起他组成技术与生产计划的团队以研发出新产品，经过几个月的研发，新的产品下线了。这一过程中的计划、策略与艰苦的努力很快出了成果，当Master Craft最初代表着新福特动力叉车在1976年芝加哥的物料搬运展览会上的出现，这一新产品被欢呼为“第一辆外观与操作与牵引车不同的越野叉车”。最初，Master Craft的型号系列为4,000到8,000磅的举升，那时唯一的传动系是在福特445, 545 与 655滑道上自造的，门架与驱动轴是采购的条目，不是内部制造。
到1975年，Master Craft搬至乔治亚州以更好地利用劳力的成本，小化运转成本，同时乔治亚州也有“适合工作”的州的美名，而且，搬迁也可以很好地利用机械结构与性能所要求的新技术优势。
1976年到来时，新系统的订单源源流入Master Craft，我们开发了一种经销途径——通过打造强大的代理网络来赢得可观的市场占有。
全天，Master Craft叉车被适用于50多个工业领域，销往至少三个大洲，美国的20强越野叉车制造商中，其为前五名，占据11%的市场份额，也是北美年代最久的、最有声誉的越野叉车制造商之一。Master Craft仍然将保持着其家族式所有的公司——象其初期一样，我们强烈认为声誉、与代理商的友好关系及优质的设备在过去及将来对我们都是很有帮助的。最后，我们的叉车已经并将继续一代一代的建造下去，Master Craft——当别人制造越野叉车时，我们已是知名的。
In 1952, our founder, Mr. John Haswell, was an employee for a large tool and die manufacturer in Detroit, Michigan. Mr. Haswell had dreams of owning his own tool and die company, and eventually, a metal stamping plant. An opportunity arose, and Haswell took advantage of it. His company was so busy that they were turning down jobs, so Mr. Haswell immediately bought a mill and saw to exploit this opportunity.
In his basement during both nights and weekends, Haswell built dies for metal stamping companies in the greater Detroit area. Well, it wasn’t long before this enterprise grew out of his basement and into his garage, and continued to grow and prosper.
Needless to say, the rest is history.
Within ten years, business grew so fast that Mr. Haswell moved from that garage to buildings of ever-increasing size until his company was moved to a manufacturing facility that employed over 200 employees. Equipment size and power also increased dramatically. Haswell’s company grew from just one press to over 100; during that same period, capacity was augmented from 10 to over 3,000 tons, and Mr. Haswell received hundreds of jobs for an ever-expanding client list that included Fortune 500 customers such as Ford, GM, and Chrysler. This burgeoning enterprise produced millions of metal stampings, automobile pulleys and numerous assembly components for automobiles and trucks, as well as industrial and farm tractors. By the 1970’s, Mr. Haswell’s business also expanded into system manufacture and assembly- Master Craft was given a Ford tractor company contract, which included building parts for and assembling 100 truck-mounted backhoes.
The truck-mounted backhoe systems were such a success, Mr. Haswell decided to try another idea to exploit a unique product niche: the rough terrain forklift. Haswell recalls that he assembled a team of engineers and production planners in order to develop the new products, and after several months of research and development, the new products were rolled out. The planning, strategy, and hard work involved in the process didn’t take long to pay off- at Master Craft’s initial presentation of the new Ford-powered forklift at the 1976 Material Handling Show in Chicago, the new product was hailed as “the first rough terrain forklift that didn’t look or work like a tractor.”
Initially, Master Craft’s model ranges were from 4,000-8,000 lb lifts. The only power train offered at that time was housed in the Ford 445, 545 and 655 skids. Masts and steer axles were purchased items, not manufactured in-house.
By 1975, Master Craft moved to Tifton, Georgia in order to fully exploit the cost of living, labor costs, as well as Georgia’s reputation as a “right to work” state. Furthermore, the move would take advantage of the new technology required for both machine construction and features.
As 1976 arrived, orders for the new system began to pour into Master Craft. We developed a marketing approach of building a strong dealership network in order to gain a respectable share of the market.
Today, Master Craft forklifts are used in over fifty different industry segments, and have been sold and used in at least 3 continents worldwide. Out of 20 rough terrain forklift manufacturers in the US, Master Craft is a top 5 manufacturer with 11% market share, and is one of the oldest and most reputable rough terrain forklift manufacturers in North America. Master Craft still continues to be a family owned company – as we have been from our inception. We feel strongly that our continuing pursuit of the combination of reputation, personal relationships with our dealers, and high-quality equipment have been useful to us – both in the past and in our future. Finally, as always, our lifts have been and will be built by generations to last for generations. Master Craft – while others build rough terrain forklifts, we are rough terrain forklifts.