BHS, Inc. Celebrates 45 Years of Material Handling Innovation


BHS, Inc. Celebrates 45 Years of Material Handling Innovation

BHS, Inc., a leading manufacturer of material handling equipment, celebrates its 45th anniversary in 2024. The company is using this milestone to look back on its history and reflect on what makes it unique in the industry.

“Two things really set us apart in our 45th year,” said James Huber, BHS President & CEO. “Customization and innovation. And both of those factors grew naturally out of our humble beginnings.”

In 1979, Wm. Martin Huber founded BHS with two employees and a specific focus: Creating better solutions for handling forklift batteries. The company grew to become the world’s largest manufacturer of forklift battery handling equipment — but that was only the beginning.

BHS 2023 Team

James Huber, as second-generation leader, spearheaded the company’s diversification of its product lines in 2014.  In addition to forklift battery handling solutions, BHS started producing customized material handling products from Lift Tables to Vertical Reciprocating Conveyors.

In 2016, BHS released a line of material handling solutions for the electrical industry, including Spool Winding Trolleys, Parallel Reel Payouts, and many specialized carts. Today, the company partners with customers to create material handling solutions in a wide variety of industries: warehousing and logistics, manufacturing, electrical wholesaling, hospitality, food and beverage, ecommerce and fulfillment, and many more.        

Regardless of the project, however, BHS offers much more than its products, Huber said.

“We’re not just manufacturers, we’re problem-solving partners,” he said. “We offer consultation, engineering, and manufacturing services in addition to our standard products. That means we can be there before, during, and after the sale.”

Often, an existing BHS product can solve a material handling challenge. Other times it takes material handling integration services or even the creation of a brand-new piece of equipment. That’s what keeps BHS engineers innovating, Huber said. 

“Our direction comes straight from our customers,” he said. “We work with them to get the job done, whether that means devising custom tilting equipment for a manufacturer, conveyor systems for a warehouse, or integration with Industrial Internet of Things systems.”

As BHS ushers in its 45th year of business with over 100 team members and a 148,000-square-foot facility, it maintains a "strategic senior leadership team" that has more than 275 collective years of service. That continuity ensures that, despite the changes, the company’s mission remains the same, Huber said: “To provide the highest quality products and the best engineered solutions in order to continually improve our customers’ productivity and profitability.”

BHS Custom Equipment