Handling Specialty Timeline

Handling Specialty Manufacturing Ltd. is realized as a private company.

The Move from the Garage to a Place of Business.

Manufacturing under Licence of Southworth.

The Move to Grimsby at 219 South Service Rd, W.

Importing and Marketing above ground Lifting Systems.

Opens an Operation in North Tonawanda, N.Y.

First Skillet System in North America.

The Bellagio and Cirque du Soleil’s “O” show. This design/build/install and test storyline takes place over 2.5 years.  It was Handling's first installation (turnkey) project in the history of the company, and we still proudly display our "Themed Entertainment Award" for this record-setting equipment.

Handling Specialty reimagines their Professional Services Group to include additional installation and maintenance technicians, a wider variety of parts, training and other ground-breaking initiatives.

Joint Strike Fighter and Global Industry Team with Lockheed Martin. When faced with the challenge of producing up to 22 planes per month for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program in 2003, Lockheed Martin selected Handling Specialty, based on our expertise in the automotive and aerospace industries.

First Cruise Line project (Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines). Handling Specialty designed and manufactured the underwater stage lifts for Royal Caribbean's Aquatheater that provides aquatic stage shows on the Allure of the Seas. This was the first in now (2019) five Royal Caribbean cruise ships which include the underwater stage lifts, trampolines and diving boards supplied by Handling Specialty.

Grimsby's Handling Specialty rents another 80,000 square feet in Hamilton, Ontario in order to facilitate new work on a larger scale than their current operation can manage. Another excellent sign Handling Specialty is in a growth spurt.

House of Dancing Water (Macau).  Handling Specialty designed, manufactured and installed an underwater stage lift system for City of Dreams and Franco Dragone Entertainment Group’s The House of Dancing Water in Macau (China). The 2,000 seat venue features a 270 degree, theater-in-the-round, housing the world’s largest commercial pool which is 160 feet in diameter, 26 feet deep and holds 3.7 million gallons of water.

Handling Specialty made the decision to start building their own controls for the custom material handling equipment.

In July 2011, Handling Specialty became part of Whiting Equipment Canada Inc., within the Whiting Corporation's family of companies. The joining of Handling Specialty and Whiting brings together two companies with one sole and unwavering focus: to, above all else, place customers first.

50^th Anniversary Celebration. "Handling Specialty's growth since 1993 really came from going after projects of a larger scale.” Those included works that have “conceptual engineering” at the outset, to design, development, manufacturing, testing and installation focusing on “turn-key” devices, with minimum assembly hassle for clients.

Our first design becomes a reality as Handling Specialty delves into the custom Manually Guided Vehicle market.

Handling Specialty's first fully Automated Guided Vehicle System joins a new facility designed to assemble truck bodies in a 24-hour building cycle.

Paint & Blast Booths Built. The new Blast and Paint booths in Hamilton, Ontario offer easy access to our facility via large bay doors able to accept any size tractor-trailer. This is where the equipment will be carefully unloaded by our fork trucks, carried a short distance, and loaded into the appropriate booth for processing by Handling Specialty's professional services. 

In 2019 Handling Specialty engineered, built and installed their first-ever Iris into the platform of a custom four-post personnel lift designed to assemble and maintain large turbines. The assembly’s unique iris opening allows for exceptional placement around the diametre of the product in order to build the turbine out.

Celebrating our 60^th Anniversary as a company in 2023 includes flying a new banner at both the Grimsby head offices, where it is visible to QEW traffic, and at our Hamilton Plant. As clients visit our businesses, this visual milestone will remind them of our long history, built on engineering and manufacturing excellence.