Tadano Ltd’s recent US$215 million ($319 million) acquisition of the Demag Mobile Cranes business brings together two of the top names in the lifting equipment industry – each well known for safety, quality, innovation, and performance. Cranes and Lifting reports.
“The Tadano Group’s strategy is to become the global leader in the lifting equipment industry and the premier choice with our customers. The Demag Mobile Cranes acquisition is one vital step toward achieving that goal,” says Koichi Tadano, president and CEO of Tadano Ltd.
“It expands our penetration into many markets throughout the world, adds lattice boom crawler cranes to our overall product line, and enhances the capacity range of our all terrain cranes. By working together, we can better respond to our customers’ needs and give them greater added value than ever before.”
In addition to technological and manufacturing excellence, Demag’s mobile cranes give Tadano one of the most complete ranges of lifting equipment solutions available from a single manufacturer. It expands the product line with eight lattice boom crawler crane models with lift capacities from 400 to 3,200t. In addition, Demag’s 15 all terrain crane models enhance Tadano’s maximum lift capacity in-segment to 1,200 tonnes. Following the acquisition, the Tadano Group’s total lifting equipment line will include more than 80 models, including rough-terrain cranes, all-terrain cranes, lattice and telescopic boom crawler cranes, truck cranes, and more.
Anthony Grosser, Managing Director, Tadano Oceania (TOP) provides some insights to Cranes and Lifting into what the local market can expect.
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“Tadano Oceania took over the sales and service of Demag products on August 1 and we have put processes in place to make sure Demag’s transition into TOP will be as seamless as possible. Our customers can expect that they will be able to carry out business as usual – right from the very start.
“The Demag product line will integrate into the existing TOP business. The synergies between TOP and Terex Australia were very similar with branches and staff located throughout Australia,” Grosser says.
“Demag’s all terrain crane line-up complements the Tadano all terrain crane line-up and allows us to meet customer needs on a wider scale. With the introduction of Demag’s lattice boom crawler cranes, Tadano will be able to offer this product line for the first time,” he says.
As part of Tadano’s recognition of growth in the Oceania region and their ongoing commitment to customers, the company recently announced the development of a new premises, located in Brisbane, which will become Australia’s premiere mobile crane support facility.
The new facility has been designed with maximum space in mind and will feature more than 12 fully equipped service bays, including overhead cranes and wash bays, over 10,000sqm of hardstand to house a wide range of stock, and modern office facilities.
Situated in Lytton, north-east of Brisbane, the new premises is strategically positioned close to local ports, providing ease of access, and is centrally located to all customers.
“Tadano continues to value the Oceania region as a key market for growth. This has been re-affirmed with considerable investment into the market, which will ensure that not only our employees have the best working conditions, but our customers will have access to the best after sales support possible,” Grosser says.
“The upper floor of the facility will be dedicated to product support and training to make sure our personnel are equipped to meet the increasing needs of the market. This is just the next exciting stage of TOP’s development, with continued investment planned for many years to come.”
The new facility is scheduled for completion by March 2020.
“The Brisbane premises while needed was accelerated to accommodate for the business growth of Demag. Demag in Queensland is strongly represented so we needed to ensure that we had the infrastructure to support this,” Grosser says.
“Additional storage facilities were acquired in WA, with additional investment to increase our parts holding in WA. We are looking at further investment in other states but at this time we are consolidating and finalising what we have in place before venturing on our next growth program.
“Global facilities will continue to do business as they do presently. Nationally, Terex Australia will continue to operate from their premises and TOP will continue from ours,” he says.
“Existing product orders for Demag cranes will be managed and delivered by Tadano Oceania and so will service work. We have recruited six product support staff from Demag, who will be led by our new Product Support Manager, Joe Arena. The new combined team will be the largest product Support and service team in the country,” Grosser says.
Parts sales will remain the same for customers. Tadano have appointed Terex Australia as the sole provider of Demag mobile cranes parts in Australia at this present time; to allow ease of integration for both sales and service departments.
According to Grosser, product support, spare parts, support and customer focus are key strategies.
“Product support is a key factor in our business, and we have brought across an additional six key product support technicians that will integrate with TOP’s existing team to form one of the largest support networks in the industry. This will be headed up by Joe Arena who has gained industry respect with more than 15 years in the mobile crane industry,” he says.
There have been additional internal changes to allow for the growth and development of the company. Jason Civich has taken the role as National Parts Manager, Steve Sheldon as Operations Manager and Nathan Regester as National Technical Officer.
The combined teams equate to more than 70 dedicated and committed staff members – all striving towards product industry leading initiatives and customer satisfaction.
“James Greenwood also comes across from Terex Australia to head up our sales team. James has been at the forefront of the Demag product for many years, and with his 15 plus years’ experience, will continue to develop the TOP sales team as National Sales Manager,” Grosser says.
Grosser also sees encouraging economic signs from various industry sectors.
He says Tadano sees the current market in Australia improving with strong indications of growth in mining and continued infrastructure development, and the the timing couldn’t be better for TOP.
“The additional line-up allows TOP to offer a full range of machines covering all aspects of the mobile crane market. For now, we are concentrating on the integration of Demag into the Tadano Group. The Demag name is highly regarded throughout the world and the product possesses considerable strength in terms of product design and development. We would like to take advantage of this strength through solid co-operation between each of the companies’ research and development,” Grosser says.
“Demag has a long history within Australia and has a great legacy. We are excited and looking forward to guiding and delivering this legacy through its next stage of development and growth,” he says.