Dear reader,
WELCOME TO FORKLIFTACTION.COM,
MATERIALS HANDLING ONLINE.
This is issue #119 - 07 August
2003 of the weekly newsletter for industry
professionals.
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The new Materials Handling Index (MHI) has been a
huge success and we are overwhelmed with the response from the
Forkliftaction.com community. Every day more forklift users
worldwide gather contact details from the extensive database
of member companies.
Due to the healthy response,
businesses will now be listed free in one MHI category per
business address. Companies can buy additional business
categories, maximising exposure to potential sales, for a
nominal annual fee.
The optional, higher-ranking Priority
Listings, which feature a company logo, a service summary, a
website link and complete contact details, attract 20 times
more traffic than basic listings.
For more information,
contact Penryn Maddrell, Forkliftaction.com's marketing
consultant, by email on pm-marketing@forkliftaction.com.
Happy
Birthday to Forkliftaction.com News's European correspondent,
Luc De Smet, who celebrates a milestone birthday today (he's
not saying how old he is!). Congratulations
Luc!
This week Forkliftaction.com's research
team has revised and added specifications in the Equipment
Catalogue for the Toyota
range of forklifts and tow motors, manufactured at Toyota's
Takahama plant and sold in the Asia-Pacific region, Oceania,
Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. If you deal with
this brand, please check our entries and contact research
manager Rodger
Lamb if changes are required.
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1.
GERMAN CAT DEALERS AXED 
WINSEN, Germany
At least two German
Caterpillar forklift dealers have been given notice that
their dealership arrangements will end on September
30.
LagerTec Vertrieb & Service GmbH, of
Winsen, and Lifttec, of Herford, confirmed their
agreements, arranged through Mitsubishi Caterpillar
Forklift Europe BV (MCFE), in Almere, the Netherlands,
would end in September.
Ursula Irmer, of
Lagertec, said MCFE had not given reasons for the
closure of her dealership, although the three months'
notice was in line with the dealership contract.
Lagertec would lose 60% of its turnover with the loss of
the Caterpillar dealership.
"MCFE hides in
silence and does not give us any information. We could
have expected this. In the three years we have been
dealing with MCFE, we have seen the person responsible
for dealers only once," she said.
Ms Irmer said
several German Caterpillar dealers were being dropped,
but Forkliftaction.com News could not substantiate her
claim. Some dealers could not be reached before
deadline, others refused to comment, and others said
they had not been terminated.
Gert Spors, who
runs Lifttec, which has sold Caterpillar machines since
its inception in 2000, told Forkliftaction.com News this
week he was given three months' notice of termination in
June.
"It is quite a blow for us. Last year we
sold some 20 new machines and 30 used machines - all
Caterpillar," he said. "I'm currently considering
options for representing other brands but, for now, it's
business as usual."
MCFE Germany territory
manager Joris Hogenboom denied the "rumour" that
dealerships were being closed, saying "Germany is one of
the areas where MCFE is expanding
drastically".
"We are now growing very hard in
this area ... a consequence of a better coverage and
larger market shares by existing dealers," he said via
email. "The year 2003 will be MCFE's most successful in
the German market."
Mr Hogenboom did not answer
specific questions about the Caterpillar dealers before
deadline.
2.
JLG PLANS OMNIQUIP CLOSURES
McCONNELLSBURG, PA, United
States
JLG Industries Inc will start closing two of
its newly-acquired OmniQuip facilities in
October.
A JLG statement said the company
intended to close OmniQuips 500,000 square foot (46,450
square metres) Port Washington, Wisconsin, headquarters,
and a 40,000 square foot (3700 square metres) plant in
Mendota Heights, Minnesota, transferring the operations
to JLGs Pennsylvania facilities.
The closures
are expected to take about 12 months. A 78,000 square
foot (7240 square metres) site in Oakes, North Dakota,
would remain. The three OmniQuip plants employ 530
people, the company said.
In addition to
maintaining the Oakes operation, "we expect to retain
the best people, particularly within the engineering and
military contract staff", JLG chairman Bill Lasky
said.
JLG completed the USD100 million purchase
of OmniQuip, which encompasses Trak International and
the Sky-Trak and Lull telehandler lines, on August 4.
The combined operations reported USD217 million in sales
last year in 2002.
JLG sees the addition of
Omniquip's telehandler products as a way to reduce its
dependency on aerial work platforms.
JLG said it
had identified ongoing annual savings of USD27 million
while incurring anticipated expenses of USD45 million
over a four-year period for telehandler production
transfers, personnel reductions, facility closures and
other restructuring costs.
- JLG website -
3.
**ADVERTISEMENT** EX-RENTAL TRUCK BLOWOUT SALE
CONTINUED
Yale Industrial Trucks Ontario Ltd. is
offering incredible savings on hundreds of ex-rental
fleet forklifts. All machines are dealer maintained and
serviced by factory-trained technicians.
Many
makes and models are ready for your rental or retail
fleets, and all are available for immediate shipment
worldwide. Discuss your needs with us, as we can
negotiate bulk discounts and packages which include
delivery.
Interest around the world has been
huge. Contact Don Martindale to take advantage of this
exceptional opportunity.
Email: dmartindale@yaleforklifts.com
Phone:
+1-905-851-6620
Web: www.yaleforklifts.com
4.
**FORK TALK** BITA INDUSTRY CONFERENCE
ANNOUNCED
SUNNINGHILL, United Kingdom
The
British Industrial Truck Association (BITA) has
announced plans for a high-profile, two-day conference
for professionals from all areas of logistics, materials
handling, storage and distribution.
The annual
BITA Connections Conference, designed to promote
positive business relationships in the UK materials
handling industry and to provide a platform for BITA's
annual industry briefing, is in Utrecht, Holland, from
November 10 to November 11.
The conference will
be an opportunity to find out the latest on industry
developments and issues. Speakers will address health
& safety, best practice and legislative issues
impacting the industry. As part of the two-day
programme, delegates can also visit Logistica
2003.
The conference has already attracted some
of the biggest names in the industry. Delegates can
pre-book meetings with leading suppliers such as Atlet,
BT Rolatruc, Lansing Linde, Jungheinrich, Nissan, Toyota
and Translift.
BITA president Brian Tyrer said
the conference was becoming a fixture of the industry's
calendar.
"The conference offers a unique
learning opportunity and provides a valuable forum for
strengthening communications between buyers and
sellers," he said.
- BITA website -
5.
JUNGHEINRICH WEATHERS THE STORM
HAMBURG, Germany
The Jungheinrich
Group has finished the half-year with increased sales
and level profits, despite a "sluggish market context"
in recent months.
In Q2, ending June 30,
Jungheinrich achieved sales of EUR358 million (USD406.6
million), up from EUR350 million (USD397.5 million) in
Q2 2002.
Jungheinrich reported a 2% first-half
sales increase of EUR716 million (USD813.2 million) over
the 2002 tally of EUR702 million (USD797.3 million), of
which 72% came from exports.
Net profits for the
first half rose 8.4% to EUR18 million (USD20.4 million),
from EUR16.6 million (USD18.9 million) in 2002. Orders
received, affected by a poor showing in Q2, totalled
EUR728 million (USD826.8 million) for the first half,
down 3.8% from EUR756 million (USD858.6
million).
Jungheinrich's report said the transfer
of IC forklift production from Leighton Buzzard, in the
UK, to Moosburg, Germany, scheduled for completion by
mid-2004, was advancing smoothly.
The company's
Argentan production plant, run by subsidiary Mcanique
Industrie Chimie (MIC) SA, came under fire in the
report. "The company is not satisfied. In spite of
considerable efforts, the plant in Argentan, which
produces mainly hand pallet trucks, has not yet achieved
its target of sustainable profitability," the report
said.
"Measures for the long-term correction of
the loss-making situation at MIC SA are being looked
into. Merging MIC's sales with Jungheinrichs French
sales organisation is also proving significantly (more
costly) than anticipated."
Jungheinrich said
there appeared to be no signs of improvement in the
market. The company expected, at best, an "extensive
stabilisation" of market volume in Europe.
"Under
these conditions, it will be increasingly difficult to
achieve the projected increases in returns in the second
half of the year," the company said.
- Jungheinrich
website -
6.
**ADVERTISEMENT** HYSTER FULL CONTAINER HANDLER - MUST
SELL!
~ Hyster H44.00 C dedicated container
handler
~ Air conditioned cabin with work lights
~
Four-high lifting capacity (96)
~ 20-40ft
spreader
~ 38 tonne (84,000 lbs) capacity under
spreader
~ New engine just fitted, major hydraulics
refurb, new tyres
This machine is built for
continuous, problem-free use but, due to contractual
circumstances, is now available for immediate
sale.
The price is available on application, and
we can ship to your closest port. Current location: East
coast Australia.
Machine must be
sold!!
EMAIL: jelliott@globequip.biz
PHONE:
+61-7-3256-0666
FAX: +61-7-3256-1071
7.
TOYOTA SCORES WELL IN SURVEY
KENT, United Kingdom
A UK survey has
found 95% of forklift users rate the overall performance
of Toyota products as good, very good or
excellent.
The 2003 Handling & Storage
Survey, conducted by Benchmark Research, measured the
opinions of 700 forklift buyers and materials handling
fleet managers.
A Benchmark spokesman said the
survey was sponsored by forklift manufacturers and was
not a public document. Only the information released by
Toyota Industrial Equipment was
available.
According to Toyota, the survey showed
92% of Toyota users would repurchase, and 96% would
recommend the brand.
Toyota marketing manager
Miles Griffin said the survey showed Toyota had an
excellent range of products.
- Toyota UK
website -
8.
CONTAINER HANDLER CAUSES BLACKOUT
BRISBANE, Australia
A forklift
driver was seriously burned and 2500 houses lost
electricity when a container handler touched powerlines
on August 1 in the Queensland city of
Brisbane.
The man, 40, was rushed to hospital
after the frame of his container handler hit two
240-volt powerlines about 10.30am, The Courier-Mail
newspaper said.
He suffered serious burns to both
hands. The forklift brand was not reported. The
electricity was restored later that morning.
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