In 1913, Mangus Hendrickson, a Swedish immigrant living in Chicago, built his first truck. The company he started has been meeting the needs of the commercial vehicle market ever since.

Hendrickson developed the first practical tandem-axle truck suspension back in 1926. Since then, Hendrickson has developed many other innovations. As a result, Hendrickson was able to expand into new product lines and geographic markets, especially after Hendrickson was purchased in 1977 by The Boler Company. In the course of this expansion, Hendrickson acquired an English company, Norde Suspensions, Ltd., in 1985.

Norde Suspensions had its genesis as NORDE, the North Derbyshire Engineering Company, Ltd. This firm's involvement with mining vehicles led them to develop the first tandem rubber suspension in the late 1950s. These tough, reliable suspensions quickly became common equipment on heavy-duty vehicles worldwide, and the company grew into a respected producer of running gear for trucks and trailers. Brooklands Aviation purchased NORDE in 1976, and the firm's operations were moved to the historic Sywell facility, where RAF fighters and bombers had once been assembled and repaired.

After the purchase by Hendrickson in 1985, the company was renamed Hendrickson-Norde. Sywell quickly became the headquarters for Hendrickson's European operations, so the name was changed to Hendrickson Europe Ltd., in 1989.

Since then, Hendrickson Europe has grown through acquisitions and joint ventures including Muelles y Ballestas Hispani-Alemanas SA (MBHA), in Valencia, Spain.

MBHA, Europe's leading steel spring producer, is a joint venture between Hendrickson and NHK of Japan. With state-of-the-art manufacturing and heat-treating facilities, as well as computerized testing facilities, MBHA annually produces over 35,000 tonnes of low-weight, long-life parabolic taper and flat leaf springs.

Therefore, Hendrickson Europe has the focus and the capabilities to effectively and rapidly meet the specialized needs of heavy-vehicle users throughout the continent. And these capabilities will become even more comprehensive in the future.