 John Sneddon |
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Jungheinrich Lift Truck Corp US president John Sneddon has used the company’s first quarterly internal newsletter, The Source, to explain to its dealers the "realignment of its sales operations".
In The Source, published last month, Sneddon says he wants to "answer any questions" concerning Jungheinrich US’s strategic direction and ensure that the facts come straight from the company.
"The year 2007 has been one of reviewing progress made and identifying areas requiring further improvement and realignment, and restructuring of our organisation to achieve short-, medium- and long-term goals."
He says when he joined Jungheinrich in March 2005, the company had a complex route to marketing its brand, resulting in poor service for its dealers.
Back then, Jungheinrich had a separate brand, Multiton, represented by non-exclusive dealers, two factory stores in Cincinnati and Chicago, a Key Accounts channel mainly targeting its strong business relationships from Europe, and OEM relationships.
In October 2006, Jungheinrich retired the Multiton brand from the North American market (Forkliftaction.com News #270). In January 2007, the company transferred its OEM business back to its parent company. Jungheinrich moved to its new Richmond headquarters in April, increasing its operations space from 45,000 sqft to 110,000 sqft (4,181sqm to 10,219sqm).
In July 2007, Sneddon says the company moved its key account activities to dealer-managed accounts supported by its regional sales managers.
In August 2007, Jungheinrich transferred its Chicago factory store business to forklift dealers Aurora Lift Truck and Scott Lift Truck that cover the Chicago area. The move is expected to provide stronger sales and after-sales support to end-users.
Sneddon mentions a "series of business restructuring" that took place in September to make its business leaner and more flexible in responding to customers’ needs, but does not provide any details.
Helmut Limberg, head of sales in Jungheinrich AG’s board of management, is quoted in The Source, supporting the US sales subsidiary’s strategy.
"North America is of great importance to our sector’s leading suppliers.
"Jungheinrich … has realigned its sales operations in that region … we are charting the right course with our organisation in that market," Limberg says.
Chuck Leone, company vice president of sales and marketing, says in the newsletter the North American market is "begging for an alternative supplier for warehousing products, specifically Class II products". Leone also expresses confidence in the product, saying its brand was more recognised now, enabling Jungheinrich to compete in the North American market.
A bar graph in The Source shows orders for Jungheinrich equipment in the US have grown more than 35 times from corresponding periods in 2002 to 2007. The biggest growth was seen between 2002 and 2003, about eight times, and orders more than doubled between 2005 and 2006.
Jungheinrich introduced the first of its US-designed forklifts in the last two years: the EKS314 order picker, ECR 327 end rider pallet truck, ETR 320 single-deep reach truck and ETR 314 double-deep reach truck.
The new products launching in 2008 are EFG213-220 electric three-wheel counterbalanced forklift, EFG316-320 electric four-wheel counterbalanced forklift and EKS 2 Series vertical order picker.
Jungheinrich principals were unavailable this week to comment on the newsletter’s contents.
- Next week, we’ll look at dealer reaction to the "restructure". Dealers are welcome to share their thoughts with us at info@forkliftaction.com
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