Italian spider crane manufacturer Jekko has switched its UK distribution from JT Cranes to Foster Cranes.
The move follows last week’s announcement that Foster, and its previous spider crane supplier Hoeflon were parting company. See: Hoeflon and Foster Crane part
Jekko cranes have been distributed in the UK by JT Cranes since 2016, since then the Jekko products have become a real alternative to the previously dominant spider crane brands of Maeda and Unic.
JT Cranes was given the news of the termination of its contract relatively recently and has not issued any statement regarding the loss of the product line.
Jekko at Vertikal Days
The announcement this morning from Jekko said: “We can now announce that Foster Cranes has become our exclusive dealer for the United Kingdom, which confirms the corporate commitment to be present worldwide with a country after country conquering strategy.”
“This choice is in the wake of what Jekko has done over the last year: a significant growth towards the foreign markets and a technological proposal that amazes both dealers and professionals in the load lifting sector."
"Jekko has chosen Foster Cranes as its exclusive dealer for the UK market because this company is a strategic, consolidated and well known presence, boasting expertise in technological evolution and undergoing a refurbishment process to higher standards of machinery.”
Jekko's latest introduction, the 6.15 tonne JF235
Jekko sales director Alberto Franceschini added: “Year 2024 is going to bring great changes for Jekko, mainly in terms of products and of dealer network organisation. We’re penetrating several new markets and reorganising others where we’ve been operating for several years now. Our products - in the past years dedicated to advanced operators - have been completely renewed to become extremely user friendly and to offer a more accessible experience to a larger number of operators.”
“As an example, the SPX328, the entire SPX range as well as the MPK and the JF product families have undergone an innovation phase inspired by this philosophy. As a consequence, the market approach has also been upgraded: The UK plays for Jekko a strategic role therefore we strongly believe that the choice of Foster Cranes will bring about excellent results.”
Andrew Foster of Foster Cranes added: “This is an exciting moment for Foster Cranes, for our customers and, in our opinion, for the UK’s crane rental sector due to our new partnership as exclusive dealer of Jekko in the UK. Having worked side by side with our customers in the compact crane market over the last five years, we’ve witnessed a revolution in the way these cranes can be used.”
"Now we look forward to working with our present customers and with the UK’s entire crane market to show what Jekko’s incredibly innovative products can do. We’re looking forward to demonstrating how good the Jekko product range is and just how we can support our customers moving forward.”
Vertikal Comment
This is something of a surprise, it is quite unusual for a manufacturer to make such a switch, unless the current distributor has become insolvent or completely lost interest in its product line.
It is also highly unusual for a company that has and is doing well with a decent product line to drop it in favour of another - unless a manufacturer adamantly refuses to invest in new product development, or the relationship has broken down.
None of these factors appeared to have been present in this case.
Only those directly involved know the reasons and background behind changes such as this. They have certainly occurred in the past and can work out to everyone’s advantage. There is certainly no point ploughing on if one party in a partnership thinks the grass is greener elsewhere, or a relationship has broken down - but distribution changes like this can be tricky, especially if they are allowed to turn bitter and acrimonious.
Hopefully this is not the case here and with any luck all the companies involved in this change around will look back on this in a couple of years as a really positive factor in the development of their crane businesses.
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