Hendrickson International Corporation is a privately-held company located in Woodridge, Illinois with revenues in excess of $1 billion that designs and manufactures commercial full size truck suspensions. The company works with single, tandem, and tridem drive axles as well as front and trailer suspensions. The Bumper & Trim division manufactures exactly that, and Hendrickson Spring manufactures mechanical springs for the Hendrickson suspensions.
Hendrickson was founded by Magnus Hendrickson, a Swedish engineer who originally worked for Lauth-Juergens, in Ohio in 1913. Production moved to Chicago that same year. Hendrickson manufactured trucks and truck parts; in 1926 Magnus' son, Robert Theodore Hendrickson I, developed the first tandem suspension,[1] and from 1936, exclusively supplied this innovative type of suspension to International Harvester.
Hendrickson relocated to Lyons, Illinois in 1948, and expanded internationally by acquiring suspension companies in Europe, Canada, and South America. By the late 1970s, the company maintained more than nineteen points of presence worldwide.
Hendrickson was acquired in 1978 by The Boler Company, now its parent holding company. In 1985, the company sold the truck manufacturing portion of its business to concentrate on producing suspensions. As of 2006, it is "a major supplier to every North American heavy-duty truck/ trailer manufacturer, as well as many overseas manufacturers".[2]