25
FEBRUARY 2014
ACT
INTERVIEW
development of that type of product for
us. It takes us into a new sector, and it’s
been positively received.
Some of the competitive products to this
crane have been around for some time.
We were able to bring a product to the
market with features customers wanted
to see in this type of cab down unit.
We’ve added modern updates and safety
elements, a more sophisticated approach,
but still with the same robustness and
capabilities. The challenge when you are
breaking in with new products is to get the
distribution and get the customer aware
of that product and take it on board and
recognize the benefits of having a more
modern and capable product to do the
work.
Today the lifting requirements are
higher, the safety regulations are a bit
stronger. All those things require you to
continue to upgrade, and we believe the
CD 4415 is an answer to that.
WHAT DOES THE MANITEX VALLA ACQUISITION
BRING TO THE MANITEX INTERNATIONAL
SCOPE OF OPERATIONS?
I referred earlier to the broadening of
our crane portfolio, and the Valla brand
brings us into the precision pick and
carry niche market. It’s relatively specific
in its application and has a great range
of international customers. It broadens
our portfolio and specifically brings an
electric capability, something that we
are seeing more interest in as there are
environmental concerns – noise, fuel,
emissions with other power sources. Valla
brings a range of new capabilities. It’s a
small business and our intention is that we
grow that business and start to develop its
distribution both in North America and
other parts of the world. These cranes are
already used in the U.S. and we’ve already
started building on that base. We have
some great customers for this product.
Being located in Italy, it’s very close to our
existing Italian operation, CVS. It gives us
additional scale and capability in Europe
as well.
WILL MANITEX INTERNATIONAL CONTINUE ITS
AGGRESSIVE ACQUISITIONS STRATEGY?
I’m not sure whether we are actually
aggressive. We believe we have a dual-
pronged approach to growth: organically
and through acquisitions at the right price.
At the end of the day, we have to make
sure our shareholders benefit from the
transactions we do. We are very conscious
of the balance sheet and we will continue
to be as we go forward.
WHAT IS IT YOU LIKE ABOUT WORKING FOR
MANITEX INTERNATIONAL?
I have to say every day is a pleasure. A lot
of that is the people and the organization.
I have the utmost respect for those who
are working hard to make Manitex
International successful. The success of
the company is down to them and there
are some excellent people and they make
working for the company a pleasure.
Helping to build the business is a very
exciting thing to do. That is something
that I personally enjoy and look forward
to every day.
WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY?
I think essentially to be successful for
all the stakeholders in the business and
to do that we have to do a lot of things
right. Good product, good people, good
processes, good structure, good customers,
good suppliers. It’s the completion of
all those things. Being successful is an
important aspect of the philosophy.
WHAT DO LIKE TO DO IN YOUR LEISURE TIME?
I am a family man and that’s incredibly
important to me, and I value that highly.
I’m a sportsman too. I love sports of all
variety and I try to get involved as much
as I can. Those two things take up pretty
much any remaining time.
■
Manitex was the first boom truck company
to produce higher capacity boom trucks,
including the 70-ton capacity TC700.
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