Dear reader,
WELCOME TO FORKLIFTACTION.COM,
MATERIALS HANDLING ONLINE.
This is issue #121 - 21 August
2003 of the weekly newsletter for industry
professionals.
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The launch of Forkliftaction.com's Industry
Links page has had a huge response from all areas of
materials handling. The links program, where companies
exchange links with Forkliftaction.com, is good news for all
companies involved. As the popularity of Forkliftaction.com
grows, so will traffic to companies that post their links on
the site. Also, all participants' internet search engine
ratings will grow.
Member companies that participate in
this free program also qualify for special discounts on
Forkliftaction.com's other marketing packages, which include
media releases, buttons and other advertisements.
To get
your link posted on Forkliftaction.com, or to find out more
about Forkliftaction.com's marketing packages, contact Penryn
Maddrell on marketing@forkliftaction.com.
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
TIESA plant in France and sold throughout Europe. 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.
US MANUFACTURERS WAGE LEGAL WAR 
MEMPHIS, TN, United States
Two
forklift manufacturers are in the midst of a legal
battle over a disagreement about a dealer relationship
in the mid-south of the USA.
Yale Materials
Handling Corp (YMHC), a unit of Nacco Industries Inc, is
suing equipment maker Toyota Materials Handling USA Inc
(TMHU) and dealer Lilly Co.
In a related move,
Toyota has terminated a dealer agreement with ToyotaLift
South, of Jackson, Tennessee, USA, effective from August
1. Toyota acknowledged having ongoing discussions with
Memphis-based Lilly about a new deal to represent the
Toyota line but said that, as of August 7, no new
agreement existed.
In the lawsuit, filed on July
30, Nacco unit YMHC, of Greenville, North Carolina,
alleged that competitor Toyota, of Irvine, California,
caused a breach in a long-time dealer agreement under
which Lilly had sold Yale equipment.
Toyota
issued a rejoinder in a message to its dealers: "This
lawsuit is without merit and will be defended fully and
completely by TMHU."
Yale's suit seeks
compensatory damages of USD9.6 million and asks that the
amount be trebled because of Toyota's alleged breach of
the Yale agreement with Lilly. Yale also seeks a
judgement against Lilly.
Yale filed the suit in a
Tennessee state court in Memphis, but Lilly filed the
next day to move the case to a US district court in
Memphis.
"We value highly the relationship we
have with our dealers," Yale president Don Chance said,
in a statement. "Tortious interference by a competitor
with ... any of our dealers will be dealt with
firmly."
Mr Chance said Toyota had threatened
Yale with litigation and had demanded Yale release the
dealer from contractual commitments.
The suit
said Yale had had a dealer relationship with Lilly for
five decades. Under their most recent agreement, dated
July 2, 2002, Lilly "agreed not to represent a
competitor's product".
Yale blames Toyota for any
break-up: "In an effort to unfairly gain a competitive
advantage, Toyota has engaged in a deliberate course of
conduct to cause Lilly to breach the agreement, by
selling and offering for sale in the geographic area new
products manufactured by Toyota that directly compete
with Yale products."
Lilly has represented Yale
in 21 counties in Tennessee, 25 in Mississippi, 10 in
Arkansas and two in Missouri, through branches in
Jackson and LaVergne, Tennessee; Tupelo, Mississippi;
and Jonesboro, Arkansas.
The suit said Toyota
"improperly advised Lilly" that a key section of the
Yale-Lilly agreement was unenforceable. Yale said it
sought assurances Lilly would honour its Yale agreement,
and sued after determining "Lilly has failed and refused
to provide Yale with the requested assurances", the
court filing said.
Yale is an operating division
of Nacco Materials Handling Group Inc of Portland,
Oregon. The groups parent firm, Nacco Industries Inc,
is based in Mayfield Heights, Ohio.
- Yale website -
2.
FIRST AIRTRAX OMNI-FORKLIFTS SOLD
HAMMONTON, NJ, United States
Airtrax
Inc has sold the first of its ATX-3000 omni-directional
forklifts.
Ten ATX-3000s are in Airtrax's pilot
production run, to be used as demonstrators and for
initial sales. Crane & Machinery will assemble the
forklift and manufacture major components in Bridgeview,
Illinois.
Bill Wahl Supply, in Washington
Township, New Jersey, has ordered an ATX-3000 with a
77-inch, two-stage mast. President Bill Wahl said the
forklift would reduce operating costs for moving,
storing and shipping the company's building
supplies.
Musson Theatrical, based in Santa
Clara, California, has ordered an ATX-3000 with a
170-inch, three-stage mast. President Bob Downs said the
company bought the omni-directional forklift to help
save on expensive Silicon Valley storage
space.
An Airtrax statement said the ATX pilot
production run would allow the company to refine the
assembly process, develop procedures and implement
inventory control and quality assurance.
Airtrax
and Crane & Machinery plan to have a rapidly
scaleable production capacity to meet anticipated
demand. Initially they will produce 40 units a month,
but can expand to hundreds of machines.
- Airtrax website -
3.
BIG GERMAN STRADDLE ORDER FOR KALMAR
HAMBURG, Germany
Kalmar Industries
has won supply contracts for 24 straddle carriers from
stevedore Hamburger Hafen & Lagerhaus AG (HHLA). The
value of the contracts was not released.
Kalmar
received an initial order in July for eight of its
CSC340 straddle carriers. Since then it has been awarded
two further HHLA contracts, one for 12 more CSC340
machines and another for four ESC440 machines. The
latest contract includes an option for four more ESC440
straddles.
On delivery, which is expected to
start by the end of this year, all 24 machines will be
employed at the Burchardkai Terminal, one of three HHLA
container terminals in Hamburg. HHLA Burchardkai, which
has an annual throughput of more than 2.5 million
20-foot equivalent units (TEU), already operated 42
Kalmar straddle carriers, a Kalmar statement
said.
HHLA spokesman Dr Olaf Mager said Kalmar's
machines had demonstrated their reliability and
productivity.
"We are content with the machines
and can look back on years of positive experience using
them," he said. "Kalmar provides us with excellent
maintenance, fast supply of spare parts and an accurate
price/performance ratio, all of which are indispensable
features."
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Kalmar Industries website -
4.
LINDE: MH WEAKER, BUT OUTLOOK PROMISING
WIESBADEN, Germany
Linde's materials
handling division sales have fallen 2.6% from EUR1.44
billion (USD1.61 billion) in the first half of last year
to EUR1.41 billion (USD1.56 billion) in the first half
of 2003.
Orders received fell 2.9% from EUR1.53
billion (USD1.7 billion) to EUR1.49 billion (USD1.66
billion). Operating profit fell 10.3% to EUR52 million
(USD57.81 million), from EUR58 million (USD64.48
million) in 2002.
Linde's TRIM.100 optimisation
program was running according to plan, the company said,
and was set to achieve cost savings of EUR30 million
(USD33.35 million) this year. On the back of the
savings, Linde said the materials handling division
would see a "slight" improvement in sales and
earnings.
"After a hopeful first quarter,
business in Europe took another turn for the worse,"
said Linde's report, released on August 14. "Although
orders for industrial trucks were slightly above last
year's level, the increase was primarily attributable to
high demand for small, low-margin warehouse trucks.
There was, however, a decline in orders received for
counterbalance trucks."
Linde said its German
home market continued to reflect the European trend,
with a drop in forklift orders even more apparent. The
USA and Asian markets both reported a greater demand for
counterbalance forklifts.
The success of the 39x
and STILL RX 50 forklifts resulted in a substantial
increase in market share in the European forklift
market.
"The percentage of sales contributed by
the service business rose to 39%. Our customers are
increasingly opting for full-service contracts to
streamline their logistics. Our broad, innovative
service spectrum places us in a good position to benefit
from this trend in the long term," the report
said.
Linde president Dr Wolfgang Reitzle said:
"We have rolled up our sleeves and are already beginning
to see good results. These, however, are being
suppressed by the market situation and negative currency
effects."
For the first half of the year, the
Linde Group increased overall sales by 1.2% from EUR4.12
billion (USD4.58 billion) to EUR4.17 billion (USD4.63
billion).
- Linde
website -
5.
MECANO-REJA NOW SOLE MAST EXPLORER
PRODUCER
ARCHENA, Spain
Mecano-Reja SA has
bought out its partner and begun manufacturing the Mast
Explorer rough-terrain forklift in a new facility in
Archena, Spain.
Mecano-Reja foreign sales manager
Guillermo Busse said the company bought out Italian
partner Mast srl's share in the product in June, and the
first Spanish-made unit would roll off the production
line next week.
The Mast Explorer is a
rough-terrain forklift with capacities across 10 models,
ranging from one tonne to five tonnes. All but the
smallest of the range, the H10D, feature Perkins engines
and Hydrostatic transmissions. The H10D is powered by a
Lombardini engine and has a Mecanica
transmission.
Mecano-Reja has jointly produced
the forklift with Mast since 1996.
Mr Busse said
Mecano-Reja had sold 35 units from existing stock since
ending its ties with Mast. The new factory, which has
created 10 new jobs and tripled the company's workload,
featured two production lines and a bank of spare parts
for every model.
"This new facility has the
capacity to produce two machines daily, but initially we
will be happy with one machine a day," Mr Busse said.
"With very few major brands in the European
rough-terrain forklift market, we're looking forward to
giving dealers and end users something
innovative."
Mr Busse said Mecano-Reja was
looking for new distributors in Europe and throughout
the world.
-
Mecano-Reja website -
6.
GIRL KILLED IN FORKLIFT TRAGEDY
LEONIE TOWNSHIP, MI, United States
A
six-year-old girl died on August 17 after being run over
by a forklift driven by her 10-year-old
brother.
Police told Associated Press the
children were at Lindsay Heating & Cooling with
their mother's boyfriend, who owns the business, when
the accident happened.
The circumstances were not
revealed, but investigations were continuing.
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7.
ICHCA LUNCHEON
Adelaide, Australia
26th
August 2003
8.
ICUEE 2003
Louisville, Kentucky, United
States
September 23-25, 2003.
9.
1ST RENO MATERIAL HANDLING SHOW (RMH)
2003
Reno, NV, United States
1st and 2nd
October 2003
10.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA MATERIAL HANDLING & PACKAGING
SHOW
Santa Clara, CA, United States
1st
and 2nd October 2003
11.
MARITIME SECURITY EXPO EUROPE
Hamburg,
Germany
1st & 2nd Oct 2003
12.
THE INSTITUTE OF LOGISTICS & TRANSPORT
EXPO
Glasgow, United Kingdom
5th & 6th
November 2003
13.
MATERIALS HANDLING INDONESIA 2003
Jakarta,
Indonesia
10 - 13 Dec 2003
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14.
CATERPILLAR LIFT TRUCK MODEL NUMBER DP 30K-D OR
EQUAL
Baltimore, MD, United
States
Closing: 28 August 2003 TBA - Contract:
DTCG40-03-Q-6BM063
15.
OFF-ROAD TELESCOPIC-ARM FORKLIFT TRUCK WITH ROTATING
CAB
Ispra, France
Closing: 02 August 2003
TBA - Contract: CPV:29221511
16.
GENIE MODEL Z-45/25RT, 4X4, DUAL FUEL OR
EQUAL
Buncombe County, NC, United
States
Closing: 27 August 2003 TBA - Contract:
Q5140030101
17.
LIFTING, HANDLING, LOADING OR UNLOADING
MACHINERY
La Rochelle Cedex,
France
Closing: 23 September 2003 4:00pm - Contract:
CPV: 29221800
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