With a 20-year association with the brand, the teams at Nationwide Machinery Group and Nationwide Crane Hire are well qualified to talk about the inroads they have been making with Zoomlion. Shane Rouhan, Nationwide Group’s MD explains why the business has never been busier.
Collectively, Shane and his team have over 40 years’ experience selling, hiring and servicing cranes and with the industry’s increasingly ready acceptance of Chinese manufactured cranes and industrial products in general, the business continues to grow exponentially.
“Over an extended period of time, we have seen the acceptance of Chinese designed and manufactured cranes and other types of industrial equipment grow significantly across the industry. As a result of this, and in preparation for the forecast growth in our business, five years ago we purchased a block of land and constructed a large, purpose-built facility in Caloundra, on the Sunshine Coast in South East Queensland.
“But the growth of the business has significantly exceeded our expectations, and we have outgrown this facility already. So, we recently secured a third property that is a five and a half thousand square metre adjoining block to build another new facility in addition to our depot in North Brisbane. Construction on this should start within six months,” said Shane.
Nationwide Machinery Group is responsible for crane and equipment sales and Nationwide Crane Hire sales for hire.
“Nationwide Crane Hire has evolved into more of a general hire business operating from our Caloundra and Brisbane facilities. We have 10 telescopic crawlers out on dry hire at the moment so this aspect of the business has significantly expanded,” said Shane.
Shane goes on to reflect on the 20 year relationship with the Zoomlion brand and how the market’s perception has changed during this time.
“When we first started with Zoomlion and we first approached a customer, it was a hard sell. We were asked the same questions; ‘how long are the cranes going to last? What’s the resale value going to be like? Are you still going to be here supporting the product? Are we going to be able to source spare parts?’ The type of feedback any new product receives that has its teething problems,” said Shane.
“If we fast-forward to today, and I approach a customer to start a conversation, typically the feedback is, ‘We don’t have a problem with the quality of Chinese cranes. We know we need to look at them from a price point of view. We see a lot more of the product around and we are seeing that the cranes are standing the test of time, they’ve been here 20 years’,” he said.
Shane is so confident in the quality of the Zoomlion product, Nationwide is offering a two-year warranty on every crane.
“I don’t think there are too many manufacturers offering two years. We stock a lot of spare parts, but to be honest, we don’t have much of a turnover in parts, the cranes literally go out to work and they work well.
“What I am noticing is that many of our customers are return buyers, they are onto their fourth or fifth crane and that tells me they are happy with the performance of the product and the support we are providing,” he said.
Shane goes on to discuss the major changes he has seen from Zoomlion in terms of manufacturing capabilities.
“When we first visited the factory 20 years ago, they were painting the cranes out in the backyard. Now they have massive spray booths capable of accommodating huge capacity crawlers and the new factory, which opened three weeks ago, has six production lines which put out a finished crane every 20 minutes,” he said.
“It has been a massive transformation, and the big thing we noticed was the quality control, which is now computer controlled, eliminating the possibility of human error. It’s amazing to watch the automation and robotics in the factory build a machine, time and time again to the exact same quality,” said Shane.
Zoomlion recently announced changes in strategy with significant investments in property, people, parts and support. Shane comments on these developments.
“Zoomlion is obviously here to stay, and they know they need to have the supporting infrastructure, including spare parts backup, service and personnel to support the growing population of equipment. More facilities, including warehouses, will provide more confidence to the customer. As a dealer, we hold plenty of spare parts, but we could never hold everything that is needed. Zoomlion’s investment strategy provides us with more backup which in turn will give more confidence to the customer,” said Shane.
Nationwide Machinery recently signed a significant deal for new cranes.
“We recently signed an order for 20 new machines which is quite a large order for us. The first of the cranes arrived at the end of November with the rest arriving over the next six months. We have a number of tele crawlers in the order due to a significant increase in demand.
“Customers using the tele crawlers have commented on how stable they are as a pick and carry machine on site compared to rough terrains. I don’t think the industry realised that rough terrains were never designed to be a pick and carry machine, they’re more suited to move around a site, set up quickly do the job and move on.
“Tele crawlers will move with a boom out picking a large capacity load compared to its size. I think the Tier One builders and the mine sites are seeing tele crawlers as being much safer and working well as pick and carry cranes. Zoomlion has just released its 350t capacity tele crawler, which is a massive machine,” said Shane.
Zoomlion is also focused on developing its range of all-terrains said Shane.
“Zoomlion released the 120t capacity all terrain just on 12 months ago, and we took delivery of number one off the production line. We’ve had it in the rental fleet for 12 months and it’s been a fantastic machine. It goes out to work every day and hasn’t missed a beat. We’re just about to release the first of the three axle 60t all-terrains. I was in China at the end of November for the release and I’ve got 10 on order which will arrive early 2025,” said Shane.
Shane goes on to discuss the National Crane Hire fleet and how it is supporting major builders.
“Our cranes are involved in a lot project work for Tier One builders. It helps that we have the depots in Brisbane and on the Sunshine Coast as we are able to run machines between the two.
“10 years ago, we started with one crane, and now, if you include our dry hire, we’re probably around the 35 cranes and with our other gear, including scissor lifts and elevated work platforms, forklifts, spider boom, telehandler and freightliners we must be running 85 plus assets. We service our own equipment with full-time fitters as well as mobile service trucks. We send the team all over Queensland and into New South Wales,” said Shane.
During The Crane Industry Council of Australia’s (CICA) National Conference and Exhibition there were numerous conversations about sustainability and how crane manufacturers are addressing the issue by investing in ‘clean energy’ technology. Zoomlion is right up there leading the way said Shane.
“When it comes to electric vehicles, we all know China is streets ahead, they’ve been doing it for a long time. The first 25t all electric prototype truck crane was released in 2019, so it’s already been out there for five years. We now have the 30t and 100t all electric tele crawler.
“Zoomlion is investing a lot of money in this space, and we are headed in the same direction with our own fleet, not only in terms of sales, but in offering this technology in our hire fleet. The demand might not be quite there today, but it will be in the near future. It was a real eye-opener to be at the CICA Conference listening to the seminars about a sustainable future and the role renewable energy will be playing. It has opened my eyes, and I know the direction in which our business needs to headed,” said Shane.