Cat has decided to discontinue building forklifts in England.. They admitted that most of the european cusomers needed smaller ag fork lifts, while the larger ones came here to America.. with the relative value of the dollar VS the pound it no longer made economic sense to build in England & ship here to America and keep spare parts in Germany..
I suspect this is because they failed to become the dominant player in forklifts as they do in most other equipment The highest I ever saw them placed relative to market share was 6th. I also suspect that the Caterpillar telehandler dealer network became disappointed with the profit potential of telehandlers.. Cat is used to ground engageing equipment which has a much higher maintinance requirement with the far greater profit of parts and service than there is in sales the dealers couldn’t underwrite the sale of a machine to get the far greater profit of parts and service..
Anyway the really big news is that they will be buying JLG forklifts with the Cat trade mark.. To effect this JLG bought existing parts etc, to the tune of 51 million dollars.. While this is a major commitment for JLG fincailly it makes good business sense.. Building Skytrack, Lull and Now Cat forklifts they will enjoy an advantage of a lower fixed price per unit cost than smaller manufactiures like Gehl and Pettibone.
Currantly there are 24 active manufactores selling in the Amrican market. Price wise there is virtually no cost differances between American made brands once all discounts and costs are factored in.. (exceptions are in the western market where the lower shipping costs of gradell are reflected in their price which may sell fup to the $1500 to $2000 shiping costs differance)
Replies
Just a reminder . Will you do one on backhoes?
Tim
Mooney,
I've pretty much avoided ground engaging equipment. The clientel is a whole lot differant and the equipment changes often enough that if I told you my experiance with Cat or Deere the models have most likely changed enough that what I have to say is no longer valid..
Well , we are builders. If I had a choice between the two it would definately be a hoe.
Tim
Mooney,
I'm courious why you'd say that?
Most of those who buy loaderbackhoes are either plumbers or Otherwise use them in excavation.. Builders use a forklift for much of the building, from framing to roofing and windows and siding.. And yes to my regret I've seen them used to dig the basement...
Frenchy, that is all wrong here .
A hoe clears the lot including trees and rocks and of course dirt. Digs the footing and installs it if necesary by hauling the concrete from the street . Forks are attached to load and unload lumber and supplies and also lift to one story roofs which are the most common. They dig basements and build the driveways . They also landscape . They put all the lines in , sewer ,water , gas , electric.
The plumbers and so on dont run the equipment so they sub it out or up charge for it done even if they own it . Their rates are terrible . So we hire them to run the lines which is what they are paid to do. Normally a hoe is a third party person. Lots of builders here own hoes and dump trucks in flat bed versions that will also haul material. Only two builders own long lifts.
Its normally cheaper to own your own hoe or hire the best guys that own then and those arent mechanical subs.
We build firepalces with them and lift the supplies up.
They will rehire easy to other folks .
My favorite is the Kabota 45 TLB which also has a pto for things like brush hogs , post hole diggers, tillers , etc. to make it a very versatle machine.
Tim
Mooney,
Thanks..
I'm aware of how versitle a loader back hoe is but it's almost always used in the dirt. as a forklift it has minimal reach and it's turn radius stinks so getting it around the job site is difficult especially on the hilly sites that seem to dominate the high end markets around here..
I suspect you are in farm country.. I see them more often there..
the fork lift we use on site, can turn on a dime and can reach heights of 30 feet.. 2+3=7
Frenchy
I'll sneak a slightly tangential question in here to see if you can help me out. A while back I picked up a grey market Mitsubishi MM25 mini-excavator for cheap. I thought that with as much stuff as Mitsubishi puts out, I would have a good chance of getting spare part. Wrong. No Mitsubishi mini-excavator stuff in the U.S.
I have been told that this model is very similar to a U.S. Cat model, in fact, there is a Cat sticker on it. The local Cat dealer has not been helpful. The Mitsu runs fine now, but I would feel a lot better if I had a supply source. Yeah, I know, the hazards of grey market, but any help you could give me on parts sources and similarity to other models would be appreciated.
CaseyR
There's are reasons there isn't a parts source for grey market stuff and no it's not just greed on the part of the dealers. Grey Market stuff seldom conforms to our requirements, and to provide a parts source for grey market equipment means somebody is going to have to assume the liability for that machine..
It's pretty hard to assume the potential liabilitity by selling some 2 or 3 hundred dollar part. Decades ago when grey market industrial forklifts first hit our shores and people bought them the usual solution was to find the importer and ask him to supply a list of his customers.. Sooner or later the lack of a reliable parts source would cause someone to sell theirs at a deeply discounted price. That would provide a parts source for a while untill there were enough available in the market for someone to do the work required to figure out a parts source. (not very easy since all equipment changes parts vendors as often as most of the rest of us change underwear) Anotherwords from serial # XXXXX to serial # XXXXX this valve was used and that seal etc..
You might try to figure out where the thing was sold originally, say the Phillipines or Indoniasia etc. and then contact the dealer in that market.. I've got to tell you though, there are some places where Mini excavators are considered disposable. Japan for example has really tough requirements and the ususal solution for a piece of equipment with a little wear and tear on it is to sell it into a third world country.
As for Cat using the same manufactorer, that is possible because most mini's are made in Japan.. That doesn't mean parts will interchange. or that your serial numbers will conform to Cat's numbers etc..
Here in America we're really spoiled.. parts for a small block chevy made in 1955 to 1999 are still available right from the dealer and we don't need to go into the dealer with the serial numbers.. while much of the rest of the world serial numbers are required to get most parts. Caterpillar uses serial numbers as a means of theft deterance and detection.. If you steal a Cat anything to get replacement parts you know that you need to give your serial number to get parts for it.. makes theft a lot less attractive.
Normally a hoe is a third party person.
LOL.
Can't help it. That just hit me as funny.