17
INTERVIEWS
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2013
ACCESS, LIFT & HANDLERS
growth in China
This is a 54-foot rough terrain scissor being
developed by Mantall. It will be powered by
a Kubota engine.
Mantall made less than 2,000 machines last
year, but is hoping to more than double that
within three to five years.
MANTALL
If Dingli and Sinoboom are the two leading
Chinese AWP manufacturers, Mantall aspires
to be at the same level, and is starting to get
close.
Only established in 2005 – things happen
fast in China – the company moved in 2009
to a facility in Qidong, a coastal city not far
north of Shanghai, and last year moved to a
new, 790,000-square-foot facility in the city,
employing 200 staff members. The new facility
is conveniently located for port facilities and
also to serve the Chinese rental heartland.
Lee Shen, Mantall’s president, says
production last year was less than 2,000 units,
although in the Chinese style he has aims for
3,600-6,000 unit production within three to five
years. A third assembly line is currently being
built at the facility. Around 35-40 percent of
its products are exported, mainly to Eastern
Europe, South East Asia and the Middle East.
Selling in Western Europe and North America
remain medium or longer term projects.
Mantall’s product line encompasses both
booms and scissor lifts, with its early products
developed in conjunction with Beijing access
rental company XYZ, although the two are
separate businesses. Its range includes scissors
from 24 feet to 40 feet - with a 54-foot rough
terrain model now under development (see
photo) – and 60- to 126-foot booms.
Lee says Mantall aims to develop four new
models every year. He acknowledges that
there is still a gap between the western AWP
manufacturers and some Chinese products and
says Mantall and others will need to work hard
to catch up.
That ‘gap’ relates to global sales coverage and
product ranges, although Lee says the quality
gap is ever reducing. “In the future I believe
that improving productivity will be important;
volumes will be important to get costs down.”
He says the price difference between Chinese
and western manufacturers is lessening. “This
is not a serious factor now,” he tells
ALH
. “I
welcome the foreign manufacturers: if there are
only one or two manufacturers, it will not help
the market become mature. We are not scared
of competition. I feel very confident about
competing with the big brands in China, even if
we are not well known outside China.”
New products on the horizon include new
24-foot and smaller scissors, including push-
around and self-propelled with working heights
of 9 feet and 15 feet. Its smallest boom is a
60-foot unit, but Lee says smaller booms are
not a priority – more likely are new versions
of its existing models, making them more cost
effective.
Lee says, for example, they will have two
versions of its booms, ‘economy’ version using
locally produced components for China (such as
Yuchai engines), and one higher-specification
machine for export markets (using Cummins,
for example).
Like the other Chinese manufacturers,
Mantall is hoping for continued growth of the
domestic rental market. “I believe rental will
be a necessary trend for the future…In foreign
countries 85-90 percent of sales are to rental,
but it’s different [less] in China.”
Around 60 percent of Mantall’s Chinese sales
go to rental, although that is buoyed by its still
close relationship with XYZ.
■
Lee Shen,
president of
Mantall, pictured
at the company’s
head office in
Qidong, Jiangsu
Province.
