We appear to be reaching the absolute summit in restructuring among the mobile crane manufacturers to bring it down to four key global players.
Manitowoc is buying Grove, having last year bough Potain. This brings together three of the biggest names in crawler, wheel mounted and tower cranes into a strong global player.
Hitachi and Sumitomo are pooling their crawler crane interests and cooperating with mobile manufacturer Tadano. With Link-Belt already part of this family, this is another global power in the making.
Liebherr is Liebherr and continues to go its own way.
Terex has already brought together the crane brands P&H, Koehring, Lorain, PPM, American Crane, RO, Atlas Weyhausen, Peiner, Comedil, Bendini, Franna. All of this made Terex money but did not qualify it for global player status. Now with the addition of Demag Mobile Cranes, Terex really has a claim to be part of the elite.
The only major name outside of this framework is Kobelco. As a major manufacturer of construction equipment it may be able to stand alone indefinitely, but it does not have the breadth of Liebherr’s reach in the crane industry (particular in wheeled machines) and so does not qualify.
A year ago I would have been worried about Demag’s future under Terex ownership. I would have feared that its reputation for technological leadership might have been eroded by Terex’s ruthless efficiency drives. Today, however, I am more confident about the future of a Demag under Terex ownership. Terex says that it recognises that Demag’s cranes are not ‘just commodities’, which is how Terex tends to regard its current offerings. Bringing Demag into the franchise might, perhaps, in fact be the making of both companies. Demag would give Terex a product range to match Manitowoc and Liebherr. It also gives Terex the all terrain crane engineering credibility that it lacks (think of its inability to produce a buildable Compact Truck or commercially successful multi-axle all terrain cranes). Terex knows that to obtain maximum benefit from Demag, it has to protect and promote its technical reputation. And by that very process, so long as it can resist its slash and burn instincts, Terex may be on the cusp of a whole new world.
It is worth noting, in passing that over the past couple of years Terex has paid $180m to bring into its fold both Demag and the tower crane producers Comedil and Peiner. In comparison, Manitowoc paid $570m to get Potain and Grove. I am prepared to listen to arguments that say Potain and Grove together are more valuable than a combined Demag, Comedil and Peiner, but not THREE TIMES as valuable. Either Manitowoc shareholders have been robbed or Terex boss Ron de Feo is a bandit. Or both.
