22.05.2006

Grove to move out of Sunderland?

Manitowoc is considering finally moving out of the Sunderland area, it has launched a consultation process with the 30 or so employees it has left in the region. The thinking is to move to a central location in the midlands, possibly linking up with the staff currently located in Uxbridge.

The majority of the employees in Sunderland are parts and service staff that were retained for their expertise after the parts warehouse was moved to Venlo in the early 90’s.

The Sunderland location dates back to 1939 when the Egis shipyard was purchased by the Steel group as a home to Coles cranes of Derby which it had just purchased.
Please register to see all images

Mobile crane Production began in Sunderland in 1939 when Steels bought Coles and the old Egis Shipyard

When Grove purchased Coles from the receivers in 1985 it moved all of its European manufacturing operations from Oxford, Bicester and its European parts warehouse from Bissingen into what was now known as Crown works in Sunderland.
Please register to see all images

Crown Works Sunderland in its Hayday, Europes largest crane plant

Crane production came to an end in Sunderland after the purchase of Krupp and the acquisition of the Wilhelmshaven plant in Northern Germany.

The parts operation was moved to a subcontracted logistics warehouse in order to be more central for the whole of Europe as well as to facilitate the closure of the Crown works.
With a high level of expertise in the parts and service area it was logically decided to retain an office in Sunderland, initially this was located within the old works, but eventually the team was moved to the current offices.

Earlier this year the Sunderland based team was obliged to step into the breach to handle parts sales in the UK after the failure of Samuel Walkers.

With Grove now handling the full UK aftermarket operation direct, a more central location would make more sense. Additionally if this could become a single UK location, it could also prove to be a cost saver.

Grove owned a distribution location in Bicester until relatively recently.