15.01.2003

Snorkel to restart US production in February

The new President and CEO of Snorkel International is Al Havlin. Following is the text of an interview with Vertikal.net

Vn: Mr Havlin, congratulations on your new appointment. Firstly, do you plan to resume production in the US?

Havlin: Yes, we plan to start production of Snorkel parts at the Elwood, KS plant within a few weeks. We plan to finish production quickly of various Snorkel lifts and platforms that are partially built. We have a variety of work platforms that are 100 percent complete and ready to be shipped. We are anxious to sell them at reasonable prices. Some will be discounted heavily to move them.

Vn: Do you plan to continue production in New Zealand?

Havlin: We will continue our successful operations in New Zealand and Australia. New Zealand is mostly an assembly plant combined with a little fabrication. We have an innovative engineering staff there who have come up with some great new products that we are introducing in other parts of the world. Our major investors will be visiting Australia and New Zealand in February to reinforce our commitment to Snorkel.

Vn: Do you plan to launch any new products? What and when?

Havlin: For the near future, we will be putting all our efforts into production of our most popular lines. After we take care of our customers in that area, we will have our talented engineering staff start to improve designs and begin development of new products.

Vn: How important is the European market to Snorkel? Will new products have a CE market?

Havlin: We have barely touched the European marketplace and will beef up our presence there as quickly as possible. We will have several Snorkel lines that will be CE-approved.

Vn: What will be the difference between the old and new Snorkel?

Havlin: The old Snorkel was most recently a small and insignificant part of a large conglomerate, Textron. It obviously was not the central focus of that company and didn't receive the attention necessary to make it successful.

Under the new management and ownership, Snorkel equipment will be the only focus of the company. We will give Snorkel all the attention and resources it needs to restore its great name. We are thrilled to lead this rebirth of Snorkel and look forward to having many satisfied customers again.

Read more:

New owner for Snorkel

Snorkel ceases US production

Snorkel Europe GmbH closes


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