OUR HISTORY.

Like many successful companies, we began with a dedicated, driven individual whose strong work ethic and uncompromising standards forged a reputation for, in his case, manufacturing excellence. That individual was Eric Rainsford.

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In 1938, Eric Rainsford established a business manufacturing surgical equipment for the Australian and U.S Defence Forces The Rainsford manufacturing business developed rapidly, expanding production to include many household and every day. In the 1970’s , Australia became the first country to legislate for seat belt fitment in all autos sold and later for compulsory wearing . Rainsford Metal products were the pioneers in the Auto Seat Belt business and sold patents to users throughout the world (including General Motors), the business had manufacturing plants in Adelaide, Lithgow, Gosford and Melbourne.

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In 1981, the company turned its manufacturing skills to making Electric Stackers, and it’s been a case of onwards ad upwards ever since. We became known as TASK in 2001 by which time we'd become the largest Australian manufacturer and exported of forklifts and materials handling products as well as holding numerous international patents.

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In the 21st century, the Rainsford family continue the tradition of manufacturing excellence with the design, manufacture and distribution of electric pedestrian stackers and ride-on forklifts through TASK Forklifts. And its only with the expertise and hard work of our dedicated team that we can continue to prosper and grow.

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“We are proud of our past – but even more excited about the future”.

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GLOBAL REACH

In 1984 the company set up manufacturing operations in Singapore and followed with similar operations in Taipei (Taiwan) in 1985 and Malaysia in 1986. In 1997 we were one of the first Australian companies to establish themselves in China and have a strong presence there today.

In 2009 we moved our attention to the United States of America , commencing in California and gaining valuable insight into the market needs. In 2011 we opened our Assembly and technical Support centre in Dallas Texas where a small staff look after the needs of 105 Dealers across 23 states.

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OUR DEFINING PURPOSE

We still run as a Family Business where our employees are the “heart and soul” of our company.

We develop a material handling concept and test the idea with staff and our key Dealers. We then build prototypes and demonstrate these to the various stakeholders. Once we are satisfied , we then carry out a “pilot production” run for certification and these units end up in our Hire Fleet where they are closely evaluated for potential problems with their use.  Designs are often upgraded after evaluation well before the manufacturing process begins.

This is not the end of our role . We then need to commercialise the process – we don’t advertise but choose to build awareness. Our technical support people create meaningful workshop and service information so that any technician at any location can maintain all of our units. The TASK EYE was developed in 2013 – an integrated software solution where our technical people (located in Adelaide , Dallas or Shanghai) can interrogate any of our products anywhere in the world …… all they need is an internet connection .  We then have the ability to troubleshoot and re program if necessary .

Our business is “unique” – there are not many people doing what we’re doing.  The Material Handling market is unforgiving and every product we release must be a “potential winner” or it ends up in the graveyard or our museum.

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