12.12.2006

UpRight to open new boom plant in New Year.

UpRight says that it is in final stage of negotiations for two potential turnkey facilities in the USA and that work on the chosen site will commence in early 2007.

The new plant will produce a full line of medium-to-large self propelled booms for the worldwide market, along with UpRight scissor lifts, primarily for domestic American consumption.

Darren Kell, CEO of UpRight, said: “Our business has grown rapidly in line with our strategic plans, and now is the right time to launch full line production in North America.

“This will be a large factory that is capable of producing significant numbers of larger, high quality booms alongside our high volume scissor lifts.

“We believe there is room for another major player in the global access industry and the UpRight brand is one of the most recognised in the world, so we are confident that we can attract a significant market share.

“We are already experiencing strong demand for booms from our rapidly expanding global dealer network, and believe a full product portfolio is vital to complete our offering for major rental companies.

“Our strategy has always been to launch full line production in the USA in 2007 and my team and I have spent months working hard behind the scenes to make this possible.”

Vertikal Comment

A larger facility for North America was always on the cards for Tanfield and is essential if it is serious about regaining market share there. The UpRight plant in Madera California is, we believe, still vacant and is purpose built for lift production. On the other hand the company might prefer a more central facility than a west coast location.

One assumes that the company will look to re-launch the AB46 range, the AB62RT articulating booms and the SB60 and the SB80 straight booms.

Tanfield has made amazing progress in the six months since it purchased the UpRight business, far exceeding its initial plans. It says that within the next week or so the move into its new 23,000 square metre facility will be complete in the next week or so, allowing it to ramp up production.

It currently produces a small volume of machines in its Fresno distribution centre, taking on a full size plant and re-launching the UpRight boom range will be extremely demanding. So far the company has managed to keep up with its aggressive pace, this next step will add some significant demands, it will need to bring on some additional management resources if it is keep up its pace and not spread itself too thin.

In fact with the dollar so low, an acquisition might be the best bet, providing a facility, some additional models and some additional managerial resources.