EQUIPMENT
TEREX
62
international
construction
july-august 2014
“What we got out of Skysafe is
that we designed, built and did it
all in Changzhou, so it was a great
dry-run for us, and it also told us
where the bottom of the market is.
It showed us that the sweet spot is
something like a 1532 (15 ft/4.6
m platform height) scissor built
in Changzhou that is being costed
down. It is not all the way down
with products that everyone has
like a ladder,” said Mr Barr.
He added, “Changzhou is always
looking at what is in our standard
product line across the world that
could fit in here. For example,
another trend in Chinese rental is it
is moving more and more to stick
booms.”
But a growing market also means
growing competition. The other
major international players in
powered access have factories in
China, there are specialist domestic
manufacturers, and the expectation
is that as volumes become more
significant there will be more
entrants, including some of the
massive Chinese manufacturers.
It is a reality Mr Barr
acknowledges. “I think it is a
threat, and we’re going to compete.
We’re not going to go away. The
question is whether they’re going to
establish a value proposition with
the products that are demanded by
the big clients. From our point of
view, we have a plant in China that
builds world-class products.”
“The value proposition plays
into it heavily. If you are an
Genie boom lifts on site in China.
entrepreneur, do you go with
experience, or do you go with a
new player that’s only been around
a couple of years? Some people
will want a quick return on their
investment and will go with the
cheapest product available, but they
will never be the guy that supplies
the mega projects.
“There is always a segment that
will go after cheap anywhere in
the world, and you’ll have that
segment here. But I think with
safety, efficiency, the understanding
of downtime, the overall cost
of owning the equipment and
residual values, that is where we
have 40 years’ experience, and
we understand that. But I never
dismiss competitors, and I respect
them” he said.
So back to the $ 64,000 question,
when will the Chinese market take
off?
“So many pieces of the puzzle
are here today. I think when the
government loosens up on the
economy, when shipyards come
back to full swing, I think there will
be opportunities for this market
to grow extremely fast. I think
every year we have an increase in
the rental fleet out there is another
year of education for the Chinese
market. Not just education on
aerials, but education on safety,”
said Mr Barr.
And pushed to put a timescale
on that, he said, “The inflection
point… I could guess… I’d say
three to five years.”
iC
HTH RANGE:
THE MOST SUITABLE
MACHINES
FOR QUARRIES
HEAVY CAPACITY TELESCOPIC HANDLERS RANGE:
HTH 15.10
•
HTH 20.10
•
HTH 23.11
•
HTH 27.11
HTH 30.12
•
HTH 35.11
•
HTH 40.13
•
HTH 45.14
Thanks to its patented
system, the fork carriage
makes it possible to carry
and pick up loads inside a
container and, by means
of a simple command in
the cab, the forks can be
hydraulically
widened to fork the
container itself,
it can vary its width
from 2.100 mm
up to 2.500 mm.
HTH30.12
tracce.com
Magni Telescopic Handlers srl
Via Magellano, 22 - 41013 Castelfranco Emilia, Modena,
Italia - Tel: +39 059 8630811 - Fax: +39 059 8638012
-
