The hidden hand

The IKEA town that moves the world's containers

ELME Spreader, the planet's dominant crane spreader manufacturer, operates from the same Swedish village where flat-pack furniture was born.

The number

1000spreaders manufactured annually

Älmhult, a 9,000-person town in Småland, is home to both IKEA's original 1958 store and ELME's global spreader monopoly—the invisible hardware that attaches STS cranes to containers at every major port. Two unrelated supply-chain titans, born from the same village, now control how the world moves furniture and everything else.

Source: About Us — ELME Spreader · ELME Spreader AB · Jan 1, 2024

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ELME Spreader — Älmhult, Sweden (Sole Factory) →
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The IKEA town that moves the world's containers

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