FEM was established in 1953 with two main purposes: (1) facilitating cooperation among materials handling manufacturers in Europe through their respective national committees and (2) creating state-of-the-art technical recommendations from the sector on the use of its equipment.

1993 marked an important change in FEM core activity with the establishment of the Internal Market (European Union) and the gradual increase in relevant regulatory requirements (firstly in the area of safety) originating from the EU.

A historical and still substantial part of FEM work lies in the production and update of technical recommendations on the use and maintenance of the various categories of materials handling equipment.

In 2014 FEM confounded the World Materials Handling Alliance with American (MHI), Chinese (CMES, BMHRI) and Japanese (JIMH) colleagues.

Materials handling equipment covers a wide variety of products including cranes, dock levellers, forklift trucks, adjustable shelving and pallet racking, aerial work platform, vertical conveyors, etc.

Indeed, whereas a lot of regulations and directives apply to materials handling products, some competitors do not comply with the rules thus creating an unfair market and affecting the environment, workers' health and products'safety.