Clark execs examine industry trends
Clark's Dorio: Global consolidation to continue; expect to see only 20 companies in five years.
By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 5/1/1998
LEXINGTON, KY-Editor's note: Last month's News & Trends reported on corporate restructuring topics covered by Clark Material Handling Company CEO and president Marty Dorio in an interview here with managing editor Tom Feare. This month the interview continues, with Dorio and Kevin Reardon, vice president, sales and marketing, commenting on industry trends.Fewer players. Clark is but one key corporate player in what is becoming a global consolidation of lift truck manufacturers. "Worldwide, last year there were 33 companies in this business; 31 this year," Dorio says. "I expect to see only 20 companies in five years." Smaller companies in the U.S., Europe, and Asia just won't be able to compete against the bigger firms. In South Korea, "Samsung and Daewoo will be the only two survivors," Dorio also suggests.
Lift truck demand. "We are a GNP-driven business," Dorio says. The strong U.S. economy helped push North American factory rider orders to a new record (136,400 units) last year. "But we shouldn't delude ourselves that the market will be this many units this year," he adds.
Shift to leasing. Akin to what's happened in U.S. auto financing, leasing lift trucks is popular now. Indeed, leasing was a major factor behind 1997's record for orders, notes Reardon.
"There's been a fundamental shift toward leasing in the U.S.," adds Dorio. For example, it's estimated that more than 50% of all Clark trucks now rolling out of Lexington go out under leases of some kind.
Companies "don't want to worry about maintenance for their lift trucks any more than they do the elevators in their office buildings," suggests Dorio.
More leases "wreak some havoc" in the used lift truck market, Dorio notes. But from a customer's perspective, there's a positive result: End users, particularly smaller firms, have a greater chance to move to more full-featured trucks, as they come off of leases.
Kelly Services approach? In the future, lift truck companies or their dealers might offer other services: For example, providing an end user with trained lift truck operators, much like a "temporary" agency such as Kelly Services does for other jobs. Currently, an Argentine Clark dealer provides operators for a local Volkswagen plant, Reardon explains.
AC-drive motor technology. Electric forklifts with frequency-regulated, asynchronous (or AC) motors for travel and lifting operations give users far more maintenance-free performance. Increasingly, AC electrics will penetrate the U.S. market. (In Europe, Clark already offers AC electrics in trucks with 4,000 to 10,000 lb capacities).
The AC electrics perform more like internal combustion (IC) trucks, developing more torque than DC electrics and powering up steeper ramps. These electrics also can run 10 hours or more without a charge or a stop for a battery changeout.
Compared to older trucks with existing technology based on DC motors with brushes, the AC trucks are more expensive on an upfront-cost basis. But under leasing this upfront "penalty" can be made less painful.
"Over the next five years you'll see more users moving to AC electrics," Reardon predicts. "Europe is pushing the envelope on AC technology," he says. Adds Dorio: "I don't see why this technology can't be applied to almost every electric truck."
Ergonomics. The end to ergonomic improvements is hardly in sight, both Clark execs say. Among developments to look for is joystick operation of hydraulics, which eliminates the need for cabling, avoids hydraulic oil leakage. Again, Europe leads the way in this technology, and Clark offers trucks to this market with joysticks.
Suspension seats with lumbar support, low-noise and low-vibration cabs, more electronic sensors to warn of unstable load conditions, equipment malfunction, or other possible hazards and to improve performance-all these and more are on the horizon.
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