Turnaround tipped for early next year. PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

By Roger Renstrom

The economy remains sour but three forklift industry players see brighter days ahead, according to a Forkliftaction.com News survey.

"We believe a noticeable turnaround will happen in the first quarter of 2010," says Ronnie Keene, vice president of sales and marketing with Bolzoni Auramo Inc, which makes forklift attachments in Homewood, Illinois as a business of the Bolzoni Auramo Group of Piacenza, Italy.

"We are not excited about the balance of this year, but we anticipate a turnaround by the end of the first quarter in 2010," says Jim Hogan, general sales manager of the TCM America Inc distribution division in Swedesboro, New Jersey. TCM America forklift manufacturing occurs in Columbia, South Carolina. TCM Corp of Tokyo is the parent firm.

"We're seeing signs that the market is slowly coming back," says Dan Peter, director of marketing with Hoist Liftruck Mfg Inc in Bedford Park, Illinois. "Quoting activity has tripled since the third and fourth quarters of 2008 as companies are gradually becoming more confident to move their business forward. Granted, many are still hesitant and decisions are taking longer to be made, but there's business to be had out there." Hoist manufactures heavy-duty forklifts.

The downturn has seen sales in the proverbial tank, required labour and investment reductions and resulted in some market adjustments.

"The North American lift truck market is still weak, but we believe the worst is behind us," notes Keene. "Our sales closely mirror the North American ITA (Industrial Truck Association) sales which are approximately 45% plus off from 2008."

Keene says Bolzoni Auramo implemented work force reductions in Illinois early in 2009's first quarter. "At this time, we are not expecting any future adjustments in 2009," he observes.

A shift is occurring in US manufacturing of Bolzoni Auramo's carton clamp attachments. "Plans are now in place to produce 65%-70% of our products in the US", Keene reports. "In 2008, approximately 50% of our attachments were manufactured in Homewood, and the remaining products were imported from Europe."

TCM has seen a 50% drop in sales since September 2008, Hogan says. "We were hoping for an upswing" but have not experienced one yet.

TCM has gone through staff reductions and some closures at the South Carolina plant, "typically for a week per month for the past three months," he notes.

In working with its dealerships, Hogan indicates that TCM has offered some support programs including subsidization plans for financing, extended floor and rental terms.

The climate is daunting. "People before me have gone through (economic) ups and downs, but this is the worst that I have ever seen in my 13 years in the business," Hogan says.

For the North American market, TCM makes forklifts up to 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg) in the South Carolina factory and obtains larger-sized models starting at 15,500 pounds (6,975 kg) from a TCM plant in the Shiga prefecture in Japan.

At Hoist Liftruck, "orders for 2009 are significantly off from last year's pace, but, at the same time, we're exceeding our forecasted numbers for this year", Peter says. "We're tremendously pleased with the activity through the first two quarters, including a record month for us in June."

Hoist reduced its workforce gradually "last year in anticipation of the economic collapse in the fall and by year's end we were running fairly lean," Peter notes. "Since February, though, we've brought back approximately one-third of our workforce due to increased business."

At its Illinois plant, Hoist makes port and intermodal forklifts with capacities from 15,000 pounds (6,750 kg) to more than 100,000 pounds (45,000 kg). The equipment includes cushion tyre models, electrics, pneumatics, roll-on/roll-off versions, empty and loaded container handlers, reach stackers and marine forklifts.