An Irish innovator shaping the future of Australian timber handling. By Campbell McInnes
How a milestone machine, a 20-year relationship and a customer-led engineering philosophy continue to reshape safety, space and sustainability in Australia’s timber sector.
A MILESTONE THAT SPEAKS TO A MOVEMENT
When Combilift’s 100,001st forklift rolled onto the floor of Bunnings Mentone in Victoria in December 2025, it was far more than a ceremonial photo opportunity. It was the physical embodiment of a twenty-year partnership, a global innovation journey, and a milestone achieved by a company that has reshaped how the timber industry handles long, bulky, and sometimes awkward loads.
For Combilift CEO and Co-Founder Martin McVicar, visiting Australia to present the unit was personal. “Australia is very close to me,” he said at the handover. “I come here at least once every year. It’s one of the best places for us to do business, Australians speak English, safety is taken extremely seriously, land is expensive, and our equipment saves space. Those factors matter. They push us to innovate.”
McVicar added, “I can assure you that, although I typically travel to Australia in November or December, it has nothing to do with the season.” Despite the presentation being held on the 1st December 2025, and officially summer in Australia, the conditions could easily have been mistaken for an Irish winter’s day. Temperatures hovered around 14 degrees with light rain and reports even indicated snowfall in the Victorian highlands.
The 100,001st truck, a Combilift CBE3000 multidirectional electric forklift with Lithium- Ion battery technology, marks another chapter in Combilift’s long-standing influence on Australian timber and hardware operations. More broadly, it signals the way forward for a sector increasingly defined by narrow aisles, rising safety expectations, labour shortages and a rapid shift toward electrification.
Since its founding in 1998, Combilift’s achievements extend well beyond manufacturing 100,000 machines. So much of Combilift’s global design, innovation, and safety architecture, combined with a customer-first engineering ethos, has been shaped right here, by the demands of the Australian customers and our market.
CUSTOMER-DRIVEN ENGINEERING: COMBILIFT’S CORE PHILOSOPHY
Ask McVicar what has driven Combilift’s success, and he doesn’t hesitate. “We innovate around our customers’ requirements and needs,” he explained. “Not just innovating for the sake of innovating, we innovate and provide customer solutions.”
It’s a philosophy honed long before Combilift became a world leader in specialist materials-handling solutions for timber, manufacturing, logistics and agriculture.
McVicar grew up immersed in engineering. “Even though I left school at 17, I grew up as an engineer,” he said. “Engineering always seems to come back into the conversation.”
That technical instinct has shaped Combilift’s trajectory, from its early 4-way forklifts to its award-winning side loaders, multidirectional electric ranges, and the now globally recognised pedestrian-operated Combi-WR. But perhaps nowhere has that innovation been tested and accelerated more than in Australia.
AUSTRALIA: A MARKET THAT DRIVES GLOBAL INNOVATION
Combilift’s connection with Australia stretches back more than two decades. Over that time, more than 6,000 Combilift machines have entered Australian operations, making this the company’s fifth- largest market worldwide.
What stands out, however, is not scale, but its influence.
“We take safety from Australia and use that model for many of our designs,” McVicar said during his visit. “The US talks a lot about safety, but Australia lives it. Companies in Australia live safety on the ground and do so due to the tight regulations. For us, Australia is the leader.”
This lived-safety culture, combined with the space constraints of densely populated cities and the prevalence of long, awkward loads in timber yards, has made Australia a testbed, and sometimes a birthplace, for new Combilift technologies. The clearest example is the Combi-WR (Walkie Reach).
HOW BUNNINGS HELPED INSPIRE ONE OF COMBILIFT’S MOST IMPORTANT MACHINES
The relationship between Combilift and Bunnings stretches back to 2004. At the time, Bunnings had begun introducing Combilift C-series models to better manage long timber in tight yard layouts. But by 2011, it became clear that traditional forklifts, no matter how advanced, could not fully address the challenges of training new operators in busy stores full of customers.
During a visit to Ireland that year, Bunnings put a question to McVicar and his team: Could Combilift create a narrow-aisle machine that was easier and safer for new staff to operate?
For McVicar, the challenge struck a chord. “Bunnings were very much the catalyst for us to develop the Combi-WR,” he recalled.
“They needed something more user-friendly and safer during peak periods when operator training time was limited.”
Within months, Combilift had engineered the first pedestrian-operated walkie reach forklift capable of lifting 1500 kilos, long loads, in narrow aisles while providing 360-degree operator visibility. The first Combi-WR was air-freighted directly to Melbourne, after Bunnings viewed this machine, they immediately placed an order for 40 units. Since then, more than 700 Combilift machines, in various models, have entered Bunnings sites nationally.
As McVicar put it: “When customers push us, it helps our R&D. Many of our innovations, like the Combi-WR, have come directly from the needs of Australian timber operations.”
THE 100,001ST MACHINE: A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE OF TIMBER HANDLING
The Bunnings Mentone handover showcased not just a milestone unit, but the direction Combilift is taking. Their focus is on being at the forefront of delivering for global materials-handling, electric, data-driven and space-optimisation. Combilift engineer for safer operation, even with less-skilled operators.
1. Lithium-Ion Battery Technology
Unlike traditional lead-acid batteries, the Lithium-Ion pack requires no watering, can be opportunity-charged at any time, and delivers longer life with lower maintenance. “It’s a simple plug-in process,” explained Combilift Australia Manager Chris Littlewood. “Perfect for retail, manufacturing and timber operations where machines run all day and often in short bursts.”
2. Combi-Connect Telematics
This is Combilift’s own telematics platform, built not to hoard data but to give it back to customers. Chris Littlewood explained “each Combilift multi-directional fork-truck can be tailored in several ways. For example, “there are a range of engine types including diesel, gas and electric, mast heights, different technology, seats and so on.”
McVicar added, “With Combi-Connect, the customer gets full visibility. They can see how their equipment is used, how often it’s charged, and how services have been carried out. For larger fleets, the utilisation of data becomes extremely valuable.”
The system even provides operational accountability and can track impacts via bump sensors and recording exactly when and where they occur.
3. Safety Systems: Combi Safe-Lift / Safe-Mode
Littlewood explained the system at the event using a simple analogy: “It’s basically a traffic light system. If the load is too far forward on the fork tines, the truck won’t lift it. However, if a load is safely positioned, the operator gets the green light.”
The system prevents overloading, one of the most common and dangerous issues in timber yards. Optional safety modes also prevent the mast hitting overhead obstructions.
4. Improved Upward Visibility, Designed with Australian Feedback
Darren Dyer, Head of Procurement & Supply at Bunnings, told a revealing story: “About a year ago in Ireland, we asked if visibility upward (where there was a solid metal roof) could be improved. Within an hour, Combilift engineers had redesigned the upper guard. That feature is now on the 100,001st machine, which we see before us, with the creation of a window, which allows the driver visibility when lifting loads above the cabin.” Dyer added “I can assure you, in my experience, responses to customer needs is rare, Combilift are the exception.”
For McVicar, that responsiveness is deliberate. “As a private company, we can make decisions quickly. We keep a ‘can do’ culture, and we invest heavily in apprentices and trainees so that mindset stays strong.”
INNOVATION FOR A CHANGING WORLD: ELECTRIC, EFFICIENT AND EASIER TO USE
Globally, Combilift has committed the vast majority of its product development to electric-powered machines.
“All our current R&D is going into electric vehicles,” McVicar said. “Today, around 70% of our production is electric, and demand in Australia is growing very fast.”
Beyond electrification, Combilift is pursuing several strategic developments relevant to timber and manufacturing:
AUTOMATION, BUT ONLY WHEN THE FOUNDATION IS RIGHT
“We believe customers should optimise what they’re doing before they automate,” McVicar said. “In timber, variation matters. Automation must suit the product. We don’t want customers investing in automation that isn’t efficient.”
PATENTED LOAD-SCANNING TECHNOLOGY
Combilift recently patented a scanning system designed to read irregular loads, particularly useful in timber, where consistency is often rare.
What the technology does is use laser scanning to measure the physical dimensions of the load, notably the length. It looks at both size and the destination before performing a handling task.
What this will bring to the table is reduced risk in loading and unloading errors. Less reliance on operator judgment, creating a safer process and improved productivity especially with long loads and mixed loads.
MORE SAFETY FOR LESS-SKILLED OPERATORS
With labour shortages biting globally, including in Australia, Combilift sees a future where machines compensate for operator inexperience.
“We’re looking at ways to create a forklift that a less-skilled operator can use safely,” McVicar said. “Safety features need to support that.” This is something that customers are currently asking for.
WAREHOUSE PLANNING: FREE, DETAILED AND HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL
One of Combilift’s most unusual services is its no-charge warehouse design program, which helps customers re-engineer aisles, racking, and layouts to maximise space, often increasing usable storage by 30–50%, and in some cases 100% or more.
McVicar estimates that well over half of all customers use this service before purchasing. “If we can demonstrate real value through planning, it turns into real business,” he said. “We’re not in the real estate business, but we’re eff ectively giving customers space for free.”
For timber operations facing high land costs and limited expansion opportunities, the effect is often transformational.
GLOBAL LEADERSHIP ROOTED IN IRELAND – AND REINFORCED BY ENTERPRISE IRELAND
At the Mentone event, Lydia Rogers, Enterprise Ireland’s Overseas Manager, Australia/New Zealand, highlighted Combilift as one of the country’s strongest exporting success stories.
“We support companies wanting to export innovative, sustainable products,” Rogers announced. “Combilift is one of our shining lights, relentless in customer service and engineering and is definitely innovative.”
Combilift invests 7% of its annual revenue into R&D, an unusually high figure for a manufacturing company, particularly one that remains privately owned.
This independence, McVicar said, helps preserve the company’s culture: “We can make decisions quickly. We keep a ‘can do’ attitude. In addition, we invest heavily in young people, apprentices, and trainees, to maintain that culture.”
COMBILIFT’S 100,000TH MACHINE DONATED TO UNICEF
While Bunnings received unit 100,001, the 100,000th machine has taken a different path entirely.
Instead of selling it, Combilift raffled the special-edition multidirectional forklift and donated 100% of the proceeds to UNICEF. Originally founded as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, and officially renamed the United Nations Children’s Fund in 1953, UNICEF is the UN agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children around the world, a very worthy recipient.
This is not the first time Combilift has tied a production milestone to charitable impact.
“For our 75,000th machine, we donated it to Convoy of Hope in the United States,” McVicar said. “They were using around twenty of our Aisle Masters, so it made perfect sense. With the 100,000th, we wanted to support UNICEF. It felt right.”
THE AUSTRALIAN MARKET: SHAPING THE FUTURE
For McVicar, Australia is more than a sales destination, it is a strategic compass.
“There are three markets we can use as examples, where safety is extremely important: the US, the UK and Australia,” he said. “But Australia is the benchmark. You live safety. And it pushes us to design better, safer forklifts.”
Littlewood echoed that sentiment: “Australian operations are under pressure, space constraints, labour shortages, and emissions requirements. Multidirectional and electric forklifts solve all three. That’s why sales of these trucks continue to grow, across timber, manufacturing, agriculture, and logistics.”
Furthermore, Littlewood explained “each Combilift multi-directional fork-truck can be tailored in several ways. For example, “there are a range of engine types including diesel, gas and electric, mast heights, different technology, seats and so on.”
Each Combilift customer has their own specific requirements, which may be for large loads, narrow aisles, or unique site conditions. Combilift employ 70 welders in the factory, alongside the engineering and design teams, ensuring each unit meets the customer’s specific requirements.
Combilift’s current site, which they moved to in 2018, is 40 hectares with 46,500m2 of undercover factory space, which allows the team to produce more than 10,000 units per year, on a single shift.
THE ROAD AHEAD: WHAT’S NEXT FOR COMBILIFT?
In recent years, Combilift has been releasing one or two new models per year. Recent additions include:
• The Combi-FSE 8000, Electric Side Loader, which offers an 8-tonne lift capacity, which was featured in the Timber Trader News, Nov/Dec 2025 issue.
• The Combi Load Xtender, One Side Loading / Unloading, with ultra-low mechanism height and enhanced safety.
• The CB70E, a large electric multidirectional forklift, with its 7-tonne lift capacity, is now receiving strong Australian interest.
The company is also exploring expanded automation for steel service centres, AI-supported parts procurement, enhanced telematics capabilities and more adaptive safety controls.
As McVicar notes, AI is no magic wand, but it has practical applications. “We use AI in manufacturing and now in spare parts. For example, if a customer orders wheel nuts, the system might suggest, do you also require wheel studs. It’s about improving our overall service.”
THE MESSAGE TO AUSTRALIA’S TIMBER SECTOR
When asked what he wanted to say to Australian timber companies, McVicar’s response was clear and characteristically pragmatic:
“If you’re running out of space, look at Combilift first. We’re not in real estate, but we provide you real estate for free, through space optimisation. And if you’re trying to handle long timber efficiently and safely, our local dealer Adaptalift will organise a free onsite demonstration. You can then see the value first-hand.”
CONCLUSION: MORE THAN A FORKLIFT MANUFACTURER
The story of Combilift’s 100,001st unit is not simply about numbers, volumes, or years in business. It is a testament to what can happen when engineering meets genuine listening, when a manufacturer treats all customers challenges as an R&D brief in disguise. It is the story of an Irish company that has made Australia one of its most influential markets.
It is the story of a timber handling revolution driven by:
• Smarter engineering
• Safer equipment
• Sustainability
• Electric innovation
• Customer-centric design
• Rapid response to real-world needs
And above all, it is the story of a company that views every forklift not simply as a product, but as a solution.
As Bunnings’ long relationship with Combilift shows, the machines evolve, but the philosophy does not.
And that, more than anything, is why the 100,001st forklift built in Monaghan, Ireland found its home in Mentone, Victoria.
For more information on the Combilift range, please visit: www.combilift.com or email Chris Littlewood at: chris.littlewood@combilift.com
