Brookfield-based Wolter Inc. has acquired WMH Solutions, a Charlotte, North Carolina dealer of Linde forklifts.
Wolter, a provider of material handling equipment, automation and industrial solutions, says the deal creates one of the largest material handling companies in the nation. The Charlotte company already operates across six Southeastern states, and that reach is what redraws a Brookfield company's map. BizTimes reported the announcement Friday.
From Charlotte to a Six-State Map
WMH is not a single Charlotte showroom. It operates 11 locations across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama, Material Handling Wholesaler reported.
That is a connected stretch of the Southeast, from Virginia through the Carolinas and on to Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. After the acquisition, the same publication said, Wolter's footprint reaches more than 40 locations across 15 states, with more than 1,000 employees.
The equipment list grows with the territory. Material Handling Wholesaler said the deal expands Wolter's capabilities in forklift equipment, warehouse automation, robotics, storage and racking, dock and door equipment, overhead cranes and engineered systems.
Forklifts are the obvious piece. Racking holds the inventory, dock and door equipment meets the trailer, overhead cranes take the lifts a forklift is not built for, and automation and robotics cover the systems that move goods inside the building. The report also said the combined organization offers expanded service resources, parts inventories and 24/7 support.
Who Still Runs the Operation
Jerry Weidmann is Wolter's CEO. Scott Moe, WMH's president and chief operating officer, will continue leading WMH operations within Wolter.
Weidmann has described the technology question in this business as a people question. In a separate BizTimes Future 50 profile, he said the real opportunity for artificial intelligence in industrial distribution is "augmenting great people with better information."
Charlotte, by Way of Carson
WMH is not Wolter's first stop in the Carolinas. The company previously acquired Carson Industries, including Carson Material Handling, Carson Dock and Door, J&J Forklift Services and Pinnacle Lift Systems, according to Wolter's announcement of that deal.
That purchase added four locations: Raleigh, Charlotte and Greensboro in North Carolina, and Greenville in South Carolina. The WMH deal starts in Charlotte again and carries the map out to Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama.
The work overlaps. Carson Material Handling, Carson Dock and Door, and J&J Forklift Services had already put forklift and dock-and-door operations into those four cities, and Pinnacle Lift Systems came in the same purchase. WMH brings an 11-location network into a city the earlier deal had already named.
What WMH Told Customers in 2024
The dealer had already put a revenue figure in front of customers. In a June 1, 2024 letter about a transition to Linde-brand forklifts, WMH said it had grown the business to more than $200 million in annual companywide revenue.
The same letter said WMH planned to open more than 15 new branch locations over the next three to four years. That was the plan as of June 2024. The accounts of this acquisition describe a different count: the 11 locations WMH operates in six states.
Moe still leads those operations inside Wolter. The combined organization is offering expanded service resources, parts inventories and 24/7 support. The shops behind that offer run from Virginia to Alabama, under a company based in Brookfield.
