Dear reader,
WELCOME TO FORKLIFTACTION.COM,
MATERIALS HANDLING ONLINE.
This is issue #88 - 18 December
2002 of the weekly newsletter for industry
professionals.
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Welcome to all
new members, including those from the following companies:
Goteborgs Truckservice GTS AB, Sweden; Crown Gabelstapler
GmbH, Germany; Masterlift, Canada; Narrow Aisle North America,
USA; Trelleborg Wheel Systems, Australia; Finning UK Ltd,
United Kingdom; Montacargas y Manejo de Materiales SA de CV,
Mexico; Mohamad Abdulrahman Al Bahar, United Arab Emirates;
Lugli Carelli Elevatori, Italy; Maxwell Rotors, New Zealand;
MHC, Russia; Nissan Forklift, The Netherlands; and Mouldmate,
Thailand.
This issue of Forkliftaction.com News is
the last bulletin for 2002. We wish to thank all our readers
for their continued support during 2002, and wish you all a
safe and happy holiday period. The first issue of
Forkliftaction.com News for 2003 will be published on January
16. Kind regards, The Forkliftaction.com
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1.
CLARK, INVESTOR AGREE ON ASSET SALE 
LEXINGTON, United States
Clark
Material Handling Company believes its North American
unit is within weeks of emerging from the bankruptcy
status it has carried since 2000.
Clark MHC
yesterday announced it had signed an agreement to sell
almost all its worldwide assets to an affiliate of
private investment firm Sun Capital Partners Inc. The
deals value was not available at this time, said
Clark chief executive Kevin Reardon.
Clark
lawyers filed a reorganisation plan with the US
Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware, yesterday and
will soon file papers seeking approval of the sale, Mr
Reardon said.
The pending transaction with Sun is
contingent on other bidders making offers deemed higher
and better for Clark, a possibility Mr Reardon said was
very remote because of the complexity of the
deal.
Clark MHC expects the court to consider
approving the sale in mid-January, and the deal should
be closed by the end of January. Court approval of the
asset purchase agreement would be a milestone and a
financial transition for the equipment maker, Mr Reardon
said.
Clark applied in April 2000 for protection
from creditors under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy
Code, listing USD349 million in assets and USD374
million in debts.
In August, Clark said Sun would
settle with Clark bondholders and creditors, who were
then owed about USD250 million. Clark worked on the
transaction with Suns headquarters in Boca Raton,
Florida, and another USA office in New York, Mr Reardon
said.
Subsequent to the partnership, Clark, which
makes electric and internal combustion forklifts,
narrow-aisle forklifts, electric pallet jacks, stackers
and electric tuggers, embarked on an aggressive
restructuring to reduce manufacturing costs.
- Clark website -
2.
LIFT-TEK ELECAR PREPARES FOR MARKET
ASSAULT
GUELPH, Canada
Lift-Tek Elecar is
poised for an assault on the world attachments market
with several high-level additions to its management
team.
Company chairman Bill Harrison said
Lift-Tek Elecar would announce some big news and launch
some new products over the next year to accelerate the
companys growth.
Brian Lamb, former
vice-president and general manager of Sevcon USA, which
supplies forklift components and systems, has joined
Lift-Tek Elecar as vice-president of sales and business
development in the Americas. Mr Lamb would be
responsible for all sales and business development
activities, including customer service, warranty, field
service, field sales, after-market and parts, Mr
Harrison said.
Tim Sevick, former vice-president
of engineering at Schaeff, has joined the company as
vice-president of engineering, and is responsible for
managing engineering resources and projects throughout
the company.
In other appointments, Russ Johnson
has been promoted to director of OEM and after-market
field sales, responsible for all field sales activities
in North and South America. Rick Paddock, previously
sales manager, has been promoted to director of product
marketing and development. He also takes on Asian sales
responsibilities.
This reorganisation of the
management team will position the company extremely well
to capitalise on the acquisitions and extensive product
development activities of the past four years, Mr
Harrison said.
Lift-Tek Elecar is a leading
manufacturer of masts, carriages, side shifters and fork
positioners from one to 50 tonne capacity, with
manufacturing facilities in Italy, Sweden, the USA and
Canada.
-
Lift-Tek Elecar website -
3.
NACCO ASSURES FUTURE OF IRVINE PLANT
IRVINE, United Kingdom
Nacco
Material Handling Group says the future of its forklift
manufacturing plant in Irvine, Ayrshire, is assured,
despite a global restructuring plan that last week saw
the announcement that the companys Lenoir, North
Carolina, plant would close.
Nacco's European
vice-president and managing director Richard Close told
The Herald newspaper the company would cut some jobs,
but Naccos European headquarters would remain at
Irvine.
The restructuring program is scheduled
to take place over the next two to three years. Taking
this action will enable us to provide a clear role for
Irvine, he said.
Mr Close said the future of the
Irvine plant depended on restructuring its activities,
which would involve changing its output "from a complex
mix of forklifts to a focused product mix of electric
rider forklifts".
4.
MHD 2003 POSTPONED INDEFINITELY
SYDNEY, Australia
The Materials
Handling Distribution & Supply Chain Solutions 2003
exhibition, from March 26 to March 28, has been
postponed indefinitely, due to limited support from
the industry.
DMG World Media exhibition manager
Peter Petherick said a lack of exhibitors meant DMG had
no choice but to postpone the event, which was to have
been staged alongside the Smart 2003 conference at
Sydneys Convention & Exhibition
Centre.
Without the ongoing support and
participation of all key industry sectors, DMG was not
prepared to stage an event that was not representative
of the broader materials handling and supply chain
solutions marketplace, he said.
The previous two
MHD exhibitions had seen a downturn in both exhibitor
and visitor numbers.
Our organisation believes
in presenting exhibitions that are of benefit to
exhibitors, visitors and the industry they represent,
Mr Petherick said. We are not prepared to stage the
exhibition in its current form.
Mr Petherick
said the Smart 2003 conference, which is organised
separately, would proceed as normal.
5.
BROMMA TESTS NEW TWIN-LIFT SPREADER
STOCKHOLM, Sweden
Bromma has
completed field testing a fixed-length version of its
new Tandem twin-lift spreader (pictured online),
designed to lift two 40-foot containers.
The
Tandem spreader launches a new generation of twin-lift
spreaders that promises to alter the landscape of
container handling, the company says. Bromma is now
moving into production of a telescopic version of the
machine.
Once released, the Tandem line would
improve the efficiency of terminals around the world, as
twin-lift handling of 40-foot and 45-foot containers
would dramatically reduce lift cycles required to load
and unload container ships, the company said.
In
a statement, Bromma said the container handling industry
had been moving away from single-lift spreaders for more
than 10 years.
(Our) separating twin-lift
spreader is our single highest-selling ship-to-shore
crane spreader. The Tandem line continues the trend by
adding 40-foot and 45-foot twins to the current 20-foot
standard, the company said.
- Bromma website -
6.
JAGUARS DESTROYED FOR THEIR WHEELS
BORDESLEY GREEN, United
Kingdom
Thieves used a forklift to lift 18 new Jaguar
sports cars to steal their GBP8000-a-set (USD12,783)
alloy wheels.
Police told the Birmingham Post
& Mail the thieves caused GBP1 million (USD 1.6
million) in damage to the GBP50,000 (USD79,895) Jaguar
XK8 cars by lifting them into the air with a forklift,
removing the wheels and dropping them on the ground. The
report said the cars were likely to be written
off.
British Transport Police believe the unique
wheels were stolen to order and could have been shipped
abroad. The theft occurred at a holding depot used to
store new cars before they were transported around the
country and abroad.
Police said at least seven
men were involved in the raid. A security guard was held
at gunpoint and tied up, but managed to raise the alarm
once the gang had fled.
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