12.12.2017

Dino and Reachmaster part company

Finnish aerial lift manufacturer Dinolift and its North American distributor Reahmaster, have mutually decided to end their exclusive distribution agreement, less than three years after it was officially launched at the Rental Show 2015.

Both companies have confirmed that that they are parting on amicable terms, and have stated that there will be no changes in parts supply or technical support for Dinolift units already delivered, which will continue to be supported by both ReachMaster and Dinolift.
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The Reachmaster stand at Conexpo with Dinolift, TCA, Almac and Winlett

ReachMaster chief executive Ebbe Christensen said: “When we signed on with Dinolift in 2014, both parties knew it would be an experiment as none of Dinolift’s products were known in the market, neither from a name nor a segment point of view. Although moderate success has been achieved with Dinolift’s self-propelled RXT series boom lifts with outriggers and the track based XTC series, overall it doesn’t add up to the total market penetration both companies had hoped for.”

Dinolift sales and marketing director Karin Nars added: “Despite a very close cooperation between us, neither of us believe the results we both want can be achieved in the near future under the current agreement, and as such we both respect the priorities that prevails in our respective companies”.

Vertikal Comment

This is a shame as the owners of both companies have similar views and principles in regards to product quality, customer service and product support, while the principles seem very compatible personally.

Reachmaster has made its name selling niche products and new concepts for the US. However unlike its core TCA Falcon product line there are alternatives and competitors for most products in the Dinolift range. The partnership was launched at a time when ReachMaster was going through a lot of changes just two years after an MBO from Skako it had added a number of new product lines including PB scissor lifts, Galizia pick & carry cranes, Almac tracked scissor lifts and Bluelift spider lifts.

More recently weak sterling and a strong euro exchange rates would also have made selling the Dino RXT booms, against the long established British built Nifty SD boom lifts, even more of a challenge.

Cracking the US market is a tough challenge and a hard to rush, Dinolift will have plans ready, in order to move ahead and build on the momentum that ReachMaster has created, no matter how modest. Watch this space.