Lift trucks: "Hey, you got electric in my IC!"
Any of you old enough to remember that great TV commercial illustrating the happy (allegedly accidental) merger of chocolate and peanut butter might appreciate my comparing it to the more purposeful pairing of two great lift truck lines. Jungheinrich AG’s electric rider, narrow-aisle and pallet trucks (Class 1, 2 and 3) are now being offered in the U.S. alongside Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America’s (MCFA) IC (Class 4) models. This is part of a manufacturing and distribution agreement that takes effect at the beginning of 2010.
The fact that Jungheinrich’s products will be manufactured in Houston for the U.S. market is a breakthrough for this German company and for U.S. lift truck fleet managers previously unfamiliar with the line, says Jeff Rufener, VP of marketing for MCFA.
“That’s important because the difference in the ways the customers use and apply the product here in the States has precluded any of the European manufacturers from being a significant force in this market,” Rufener told me. Could that German design influence eventually become a staple here? Could we eventually see rotating-cab lift trucks in U.S. facilities?
“We have to explore the opportunity for the use of those concepts in North America, and that would all be available to us,” he continued.
But what’s more important for the U.S. market in Rufener’s view is the availability of a one-stop shop for all lift truck classes.
“The industry continues to consolidate and our customers want to do business with fewer and fewer suppliers,” he concluded.
Plus, bringing production of Jungheinrich products to North America will allow that OEM to better address the cost challenges the currency exchange rate posed to European brands wishing to compete in North America. Rufener describes this arrangement as “a game changer.”
Even the competition agrees with that.
“Jungheinrich was at a significant price disadvantage in this market place because they shipped in all of their product from Europe,” says Stu Jacover, president of R&J Midwest Equipment, Inc., a Chicagoland Hyundai dealer. Jacover told me this product line merger eliminates all of Jungheinrich’s roadblocks to the U.S. market, including brand unawareness and a weak dealer network.
He concluded: “I imagine the only people not pleased with this deal are MCFA’s and Jungheinrich’s competitors.”
Are you pleased? If so, tell me why.
Tom Andel
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