World's top 20 industrial lift truck suppliers

1

Toyota Industries Corp.

1

$4.6 billion

Toyota, Raymond

Aichi, Japan

2

Kion Group

2

$4.1 billion

Linde, Still, OM, Baoli

Wiesbaden, Germany

3

Jungheinrich Lift Truck Corp.

3

$2.3 billion

Jungheinrich

Hamburg, Germany

4

Crown Equipment Corp.

5

$1.6 billion

Crown, Hamech

New Bremen, Ohio

5

NACCO Industries

4

$1.5 billion

Hyster, Yale

Cleveland, Ohio

6

Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift

6

$920 million

Mitsubishi, CAT

Sagamihara, Japan

7

Komatsu Utility Co.

8

$750 million

Komatsu, Tusk

Tokyo, Japan

9

Nissan Forklift Corp.

7

$624 million

Nissan, Barrett, Atlet

Tokyo, Japan

10

TCM Corp.

10

$593 million

TCM

Tokyo, Japan

11

Nippon Yusoki Co.

11

$559 million

Not available in North America

Kyoto, Japan

12

Doosan Infracore

15

$418 million

Doosan Infracore

Seoul, South Korea

13

Clark Material Handling

12

$405 million

Clark

Seoul, South Korea

14

Manitou

13

$296 million**

Manitou

Ancenis, France

15

Zhejiang Hangcha Engineering Machinery Co.

14

$251 million**

HC

Hangzhou, China

16

Hyundai Heavy Industries

16

$237 million

Hyundai

Ulsan, South Korea

17

Tailift

18

$100 million**

Tailift, World-Lift

Taichung, Taiwan

18

Combilift

19

$98 million

Combilift

Monaghan, Ireland

19

Hytsu

N/A

$86 million

Hytsu

Shanghai, China

20

Hubtex

20

$60 million

Hubtex

Fulda, Germany

*Fiscal year 2009 worldwide sales revenue. **Figure based on industry estimate. Figures based on foreign exchange rates as of 12/31/09.

By Tom Andel, Contributing editor

Lift trucks: Why buying may overtake leasing

June 28, 2010

"People are being forced to buy through non financial merchandising means because the banks aren't loaning money like they used to," he told me. "People are using in-house financing or cash to purchase lift trucks. There aren't as many players involved in commercial financing for lift trucks as there were two years ago."

If that's true, it makes sense that buyers are looking for products they think will give them more than four or five years of life. But that also makes maintenance more important, especially as trucks survive past their warranty. Pelynio sees that as one of his greatest opportunities, particularly with IC trucks. He says he has won four major accounts from competitors in the last six months solely because these clients didn't want to pay for long term maintenance on the more sophisticated equipment they had been purchasing.

"The guys who buy gas powered trucks tend to do their own service and they don't like the fact that they can't do that any more," Pelynio said.

And with diesel standards changing in 2011 thanks to new EPA guidelines, lift truck manufacturers will have to deal with more expensive engines, therefore buyers will have to deal with more expensive lift trucks. But cost won't be the only problem. Manufacturers face design challenges. It's one thing to put urea injection and afterburners on a big 20,000 pound fork lift, but where does that technology fit on a 5,000 pound pneumatic?

"Because of that I think we'll see people go back to LP or gas power for those size trucks and away from diesel," Pelynio told me.

On the electric side, he sees fast charging opening doors for these trucks at facilities that were traditionally LP. Take trucking operations, for example. They typically don't have room for charging stations in truck terminals. But fast charging fits the typical operating pattern for lift trucks at these terminals. They are run full out for three or four hours and then sit for two or three. During that window of opportunity, fast charging allows users to charge the batteries while they're still in the lift trucks. So, does Pelynio expect to see a widespread upswing in fast charging very soon?

"Not many people have bitten because the up front costs are more expensive," he admits. "However in California where emission regulations are getting so onerous, you'll see people looking at it more."

The 2009 Top Gun regional competition was held last week in La Vergne, TN. The regional competition included 16 regional winners who were selected from 242 competitors throughout the US.

The 16 competitors took a written test, participated in a forklift inspection and completed an obstacle course. Five finalists were selected from this group.

The final competition was all about smooth and precise maneuvering in and out of obstacles taking approximately 8 minutes to complete the course. The five finalists drew numbers for the honor of going first in front of a crowd of over 50 OHL employees and guests. The competition was intense, but ultimately there could only be one Top Gun winner.

On Thursday night, the winner of the 2009 Top Gun was announced at an awards banquet held at the Hilton Garden Inn. Congratulations Brian Williams for receiving the coveted title of Top Gun.

Top Five Winners:

Brian Williams competing from Nashville, TN came in first place. Brian received a leather bomber jacket along with $1,000.00 cash and trophy.

Juan Hernandez from Romeoville, IL finished second. Juan received $500.00 cash and a trophy.

Kevin Keith from Chambersburg, PA came in third. Kevin received $300.00 cash and trophy.

Gary Stuivenga from Riverside, CA finished fourth and took home $50.00 cash.

Larry Garrett competed from Bellevue, Ohio. Larry finished fifth and received $50.00 cash.

Finalists from Left to Right:  Juan Hernandez, Larry Garrett, Kevin Keith, Gary Stuivenga, and Brian Williams	2009 Top Gun Winner, Brian Williams

We are pleased to provide you with the latest 2009 Global Forklift manufacturers’ rankings as compiled by Modern Material Handling Magazine. As has been the case over the past 5 years once again Heli has moved up in the global rankings, this year moving from #10 to #9 !

"Last year Modern recommended keeping an eye on emerging Chinese and Indian lift truck suppliers. It's still good advice. The worldwide economic situation affected everyone. So once we're back on track, we repeat, Modern will be keeping tabs on emerging Chinese and Indian lift truck suppliers."

Company

07' Rank

08' WW Sales

US Brands

World HQ

1

Toyota Industries Corp.

1

$6.51 billion

Toyota, Raymond

Aichi, Japan

2

Kion Group

2

$6.00 billion

Linde

Wiesbaden, Germany

3

Jungheinrich Lift Truck Corp.

3

$2.98 billion

Jungheinrich

Hamburg, Germany

4

NACCO Industries

4

$2.82 billion

Hyster, Yale

Cleveland, Ohio

5

Crown Equipment Corp.

6

$1.82 billion

Crown, Hamech

New Bremen, Ohio

6

Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift

5

$1.67 billion

Mitsubishi, CAT

Sagamihara, Japan

7

Nissan Forklift Corp.

8

$1.17 billion

Nissan, Barrett, Atlet

Tokyo, Japan

8

Komatsu Utility Co.

9

$1.15 billion

Komatsu, Tusk

Tokyo, Japan

9

Anhui Forklift Group

10

$857 million

Heli

Hefei, Anhui, China

10

TCM Corp.

7

$733 million

TCM

Tokyo, Japan

11

Nippon Yusoki Co.

11

$723 million

Not available in North America

Kyoto, Japan

12

Clark Material Handling

13

$495 million

Clark

Seoul, South Korea

13

Manitou

14

$485 million

Manitou

Ancenis, France

14

Zhejiang Hangcha Engineering Machinery Co.

15

$414 million**

HC

Hangzhou, China

15

Doosan Infracore

12

$363 million

Doosan Infracore

Seoul, South Korea

16

Hyundai Heavy Industries

16

$224 million

Hyundai

Ulsan, South Korea

17

Rocla

17

$182 million

Not available in North America

Järvenpää, Finland

18

Tailift

18

$165 million**

Tailift, World-Lift

Taichung, Taiwan

19

Combilift

19

$130 million

Combilift

Monaghan, Ireland

20

Hubtex

20

$98 million

Hubtex

Fulda, Germany

Dobbs Imports LLC (dba Heli Americas) has announced the addition of Sunshine Enterprise, Inc. as a new equity partner into the Heli Americas operating group. Sunshine Enterprise is a multinational manufacturing and marketing company headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee with offices in New York City, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles as well as Shenzhen, China. Sunshine Enterprises founder and CEO Wei Chen currently employs over 400 staff and operates 1 million square feet of manufacturing and warehousing space in both North America and China.

Bruce Pelynio, president and CEO of Heli Americas stated that "The addition of Sunshine Enterprises will provide "in country" communication capabilities with the Anhui Heli group based on their extensive operations adjacent to the Anhui Heli manufacturing facilities". In addition the partnership between Heli Americas and Sunshine Enterprises will provide the capability to increase the range of material handling products offered by Heli Americas to their distributors the U.S. market.

Construction equipment rental company Volvo Rents has appointed Heli as its preferred North American vendor for industrial forklift products.

Volvo Rents is a “significant user who had evaluated and utilised other forklift brands in the past but found the combination of Heli features, performance and overall user ‘friendliness’ from a maintenance standpoint to be the best value available,” says Bruce Pelynio, president and chief executive officer of Dobbs Imports LLC (trading as Heli Americas). “This is obviously a significant customer for Heli.” In January, Volvo Rents and the Heli distribution organisation reached an agreement that allows Volvo Rents franchisees to source the full line of new Heli forklifts to meet customer industrial material handling needs.

Forklifts will be supplied to Volvo Rents locations by Heli Americas of Memphis, Tennessee in 31 states; Southwest Equipment Sales of Denver, Colorado in 19 states; and Heli Canada of Thorold, Ontario will supply Canada. Volvo Rents of Asheville, North Carolina has more than 70 rental locations in North America and another 70 elsewhere. Volvo Rents is a subsidiary of Volvo Construction Equipment North America Inc, a division of Göteborg, Sweden-based AB Volvo..

Anhui Heli Co Ltd of Hefei, China manufactures the forklifts and is making strides in building its distribution networks in North America, Europe and elsewhere and offering a broader range of Heli forklift models. Anhui Heli has projected manufacturing more than 40,000 units in 2008, up from last year’s output of 38,500 units. No details were available on the volume of Heli forklifts reaching the North American market.

Anhui Heli Forklift Group, China’s largest forklift maker by sales volume, is investing RMB 60 million (USD8.1 million) in expansions of its axle and truck production lines.

Phase three of the Anqing axle plant spans 130 acres (52.6 hectares) and is under construction in Jibao, in the central province of Shaanxi.

The plant will make 65,000 axles each year, an official from Anhui Heli told Forkliftaction.com News, requesting anonymity as he didn’t have permission to speak on the record.

Operations are expected to start in October 2008 and the factory will cater for the western China market, Zhang Dejin, group vice executive manager, was quoted as saying last month by the Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po.

Anhui Heli is also building a plant in Henyang, in the southern province of Hunan, which will make 2,000 trucks a year, according to the unnamed company official. The newspaper report cited Zhang as saying the 120 acre (48 hectare) Henyang plant will begin operations this year and specialises in niche products such as explosion-proof forklifts. It will help the company tap markets in southern China and South East Asia, Zhang reportedly added.

The Anhui Heli official told Forkliftaction.com News that total sales volume for calendar year 2007 is likely to hit RMB7 billion (USD949 million), with exports comprising 25 percent. He also said that its export growth rate grew by 50% this year, compared to 2006. Anhui Heli sees its main market growth in exports, especially to North America and the European Union. The company exports to more than 100 countries and its main market is in harbour services.

One way to boost sales is through its current practice of “aggressively” developing its sales agents network in each country, the official said.

The China Industrial Truck Association (CITA) has accepted an offer to join the Alliance of Industrial Truck Organisations (AITO), a forum that discusses matters of concern to forklift manufacturers.

At AITO’s September meeting, presidents of the Federation of European Material Handling Association (FEM), Industrial Truck Association (ITA) and Japan Industrial Vehicle Association (JIVA) invited CITA to join the alliance.

ITA president James Malvaso says AITO wants to promote common interests among its members: “It’s time the worldwide industry recognises the importance of China as a producer and consumer of our products.”

Malvaso says AITO members work together through discussions and concerted actions regarding statistics, standards and regulations relevant to its members. He adds that while the alliance welcomes CITA as a member, the Chinese association needs to develop a management committee composed solely of industrial truck manufacturers to work with the manufacturing members of ITA, FEM and JIVA. “We have common concerns with standards, statistics and government regulations and we need a united front to maximise our efforts.”

AITO rotates its meetings between Europe, Japan and the US. The next meeting is held in conjunction with the JIVA annual meeting on 16 May 2008. CITA has offered to host the 2009 meeting. Established in 1998, AITO is composed of the management committees of the participating associations.

Heli Americas,a Memphis-based distributor for Anhui Heli lift trucks, has taken another step in solidifying this Chinese supplier’s U.S. market presence. De Lage Landen Financial Services, a global provider of asset-based financing products to manufacturers and distributors of capital goods, has signed an exclusive agreement with Heli Americas to provide a subsidized retail lease program, wholesale floor plan financing and rental fleet financing for Heli America’s dealers.

Initially, the program will focus on Heli’s offering of internal combustion trucks (Class 4 and Class 5).

“This will allow our dealers and us the ability to go after some more significant accounts,” he says. “If someone wants to buy a lift truck in Cincinnati and San Diego, we can have a master lease program that allows them to have one set of documents through one company in both locations. This gives us a national presence from a financial standpoint.”

Pelynio also expects this deal to make the Heli brand more attractive as a prospect to other dealers because DLL will provide wholesale financing for their stock and their rental fleets.

Pelynio says Heli is in the same position that leaders like Toyota and Nissan were in 20 years ago as they attracted dealers that were abandoning faltering lines. Rod Versteegh, president of DLL’s Materials Handling & Construction global business unit agrees.“We anticipate great growth potential over the next several years as Heli Americas continues to add to its rapidly growing dealer base,” he says.

All of last year’s top 20 companies returned to the list this year. Only one company—China’s Anhui Forklift Group (No. 10)—moved more than two spots.

Anhui Forklift Group, makers of Heli brand lift trucks, reported $288 million in 2005, placing it at No. 13. This year the company reported $681 million, an increase of 136% that moved the company up three spots to No. 10.

According to Anhui sales manager Wenhon Hu, the company’s 2005 data were incomplete. The reported revenue represented only Anhui Heli, a subsidiary of the Anhui Forklift Group. This year’s numbers represent sales by the entire company, he says.

According to Jim Malvaso, president of the ITA, the number of lift trucks ordered by U.S. and Canadian customers hit record highs in 2006, but most of those orders were placed in the first half of the year. Sales slowed considerably in the second half.

This slowdown is expected to continue through 2007, he says, with U.S. and Canadian sales volumes shrinking by as much as 7%.

“Worldwide, though, the market will be up,” says Malvaso. The United States and Canada, he says, may be the only regions where sales volumes will be down this year. Japan projects its orders will be flat in 2007. Europe and China expect their orders to be up.

Company

06' Rank

06' WW Sales

US Brands

World HQ

1

Toyota

1

$5.51 billion

Toyota, Raymond

Aichi, Japan

2

Kion Group

2

$5.30 billion

Linde

Wiesbaden, Germany

3

Jungheinrich

4

$2.38 billion

Jungheinrich

Hamburg, Germany

4

NACCO Industries

3

$2.30 billion

Hyster, Yale

Cleveland, Ohio

5

Crown Equipment Co.

6

$1.67 billion

Crown

New Bremen, Ohio

6

Mitsubishi/Caterpillar

5

$1.57 billion

Mitsubishi, Caterpillar

Sagimura, Japan

7

Komatsu

7

$1.13 billion

Komatsu, Tusk

Tokyo, Japan

8

TCM

8

$1 billion

TCM

Osaka, Japan

9

Nissan/Barret

9

$820 million

Nissan, Barrett

Tokyo, Japan

10

Anhui Forklift Group

13

$681 million

Heli

Hefei,China

11

Doosan Infracore

10

$482 million

Doosan Infracore

Seoul, South Korea

12

Nichiyu

11

$416 million

N/A in North America

Kyoto, Japan

13

Clark Material Handling International

14

$366 million

Clark

Seoul, South Korea

14

Manitou

12

$363 million

Manitou

Ancenis, France

15

Atlet

15

$247 million

Atlet

Mölnlycke, Sweden

16

Zhejiang Hangcha Engineering Machinery Co.

16

$242 million

HC

Hangzhou, China

17

Hyundai

17

$170 million

Hyundai

Ulsan, South Korea

18

Tailift

19

$140 million

Tailift, World-Lift

Taichung, Taiwan

19

Rocla

18

$123 million

N/A in North America

Järvenpää, Finland

20

Combilift

20

$90 million

Combilift

Monaghan, Ireland

De Lage Landen Financial Services announced that it has signed an exclusive program agreement with Heli Americas, a Memphis, Tennessee-based distributor of Heli forklifts.

The agreement will provide a subsidized retail lease program, wholesale floor plan financing, and rental fleet financing for Heli Americas' dealers. Initially, the program will focus on Heli's offering of Class IV and V lift trucks.

"We anticipate great growth potential over the next several years as Heli Americas continues to add to its rapidly growing dealer base," says Rod Versteegh, president of De Lage Landen's Materials Handling & Construction global business unit.

"The partnership between Heli Americas and De Lage Landen provides the ability to secure nationwide wholesale and retail financing options to the expanding base of Heli dealers and retail customers," says Bruce Pelynio, president-CEO of Heli Americas. "This combination of Heli product and De Lage Landen's financial services will allow Heli Americas to grow our market presence by meeting the needs of those customers who not only require a quality product at a competitive price, but also desire to utilize financial merchandising to further reduce their material handling cost."

MEMPHIS, Tenn.—Exports from China are up 28% for the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, according to the Wall Street Journal. In fact China is racking up quite a trade surplus with most of the world’s markets. This isn't making China many friends in these markets, so it is promising to impose changes that make exports less attractive and imports more appealing.

That's not likely to phase lift truck exports out of China, however. Some in the industrial truck industry are comparing China's new presence in U.S. markets to Japan's onslaught in the late 70s. China's compelling message when it comes to its lift trucks is “high quality, low price.”"

Bruce Pelynio, president and CEO of Heli Americas, is paving the way for its line of lift trucks by building a distribution network in the U.S. He is an American entrepreneur who took a page out of the Japanese play book of 25 years ago and is attempting to repeat the kind of success Toyota has had. He's finding, however, that it’s going to require logistics management skills to take full advantage of U.S. markets.

"I'm having more issues with logistics than I ever cared to have," he says. "It's much more difficult than I imagined. We can get product in, but finding containers is difficult and the cost to do so is all over the board. I wish I were shipping product to China because the number of empties going back has to be tremendous."

Pelynio is also trying to sharpen his planning skills.

"What I'm finding is that during a lot of the seasons you end up having to book 30-40 days in advance just to get container space,” he adds. “With the tremendous seasonality, container pricing is variable. God help you if you need to get anything in the fourth quarter.”

This difficulty hasn’t stopped the flow of Chinese-made lift trucks from entering the U.S. market. Parent company Anuhi Heli is shipping about $2 million worth to the U.S. this month. They’ll be sold out of the Heli Americas headquarters in Memphis and Southwest Equipment Sales in Denver. Why not just set up manufacturing in the States?

"That's not an option because of the capital investment,” Pelynio answers. “The Chinese have made a huge investment in manufacturing facilities. Heli opened a new plant and has been expanding it exponentially over the last 24 months. They’ve invested in space and machine tooling and very high tech assembly equipment, and that would be difficult to duplicate on this side for the volumes we have right now. They’re using that plant to supply a global marketplace.”

Pelynio is betting that as his line of lift trucks finds its markets he’ll generate more container volume and he’ll be able to leverage that for better pricing, or at least more stable pricing. In the meantime, he’s looking to sign up more distributors so he can get away from the direct selling he’s been doing—not that there’s anything wrong with that.

“It’s great to retail sell a product, but it’s like giving someone a fish vs. teaching them to fish,” he concludes. “Selling a lift truck is good, but once the sale is done that process is over. Signing a dealer is a longer process, but once you sign them, you’ve taught them to fish and that revenue stream from their sales efforts will be ongoing, so you won’t have to keep repeating that.”

Of course in this industry the real money is made through after-sale support. Pelynio plans to supplement his existing Memphis parts and service support operations with two more warehouses over the next four years as his distribution network expands further north and east.

Dobbs Imports buys Heli business in 31 states

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Rental firm names Heli as preferred supplier MORE

Anhui Heli Expands Capacity MORE

CITA joins the Alliance MORE

Financing is lift truck maker Heli's growth strategy. MORE

Anhui Forklift Group reported $681 million, an increase of 136% that moved the company up three spots to No. 10. MORE

De Lage Landen Financial Services announced that it has signed an exclusive program agreement with Heli Americas. MORE

Exports from China are up 28% for the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, according to the Wall Street Journal. MORE

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