Hyster Company is a manufacturing company specializing in forklifts an other materials-handling equipment. Hyster was founded in 1929 as the Willamette-Ersted Company in Portland, Oregon, and changed its name to Hyster Company in 1934 . The company was purchased in 1989 by NACCO Industries, Inc.. NMHG, the NACCO Materials Handling Group, continues to market products under the Hyster brand name today.