Hako GmbH
Hako GmbH is a manufacturer of street sweeping equipment and ultra-light commercial vehicles, headquartered in Bad Oldesloe, Germany with customers in about sixty countries. The company was founded on 24 December 1948; its name derives from Hans Koch & Sohn. It produces the Multicar line of vehicles.
History
In 1924 in Mecklenburg, Hans Koch invented the world's first small mechanical cultivator, the Di-Mo-Ha. He founded the company in Pinneberg in 1948, and it began assembling and mass-producing cultivators and single-axle milling machines. In 1956 the company acquired a piece of land on Lübecker Straße in Bad Oldesloe; in the 1970s Hako moved to the industrial area on Hamburger Straße, where its headquarters are now located. It also has a technology center in Trappenkamp.In 1998 Hako acquired sufficient shares in Multicar to become its controlling shareholder.
As of 2010, Hako is a worldwide leader in outdoor cleaning equipment. In 2013 Hako was represented by a board member on the Cleaning Systems trade association of the VDMA, the largest industrial/engineering federation in Germany.