17.07.2026

Zoomlion adds UK location

Chinese crane, telehandler and aerial work platform manufacturer Zoomlion has opened a new location in Wolverhampton near Birmingham, which will serve as its main hub for equipment and parts support across the UK and Ireland. The Vertikal team was on site for the official opening.

The new site, dedicated to aerial lifts, joins three other UK locations: the company’s UK headquarters in Manchester, plus depots in Banbury, Oxfordshire and Slough, west of London. The company also plans to open a depot in Scotland.

The customer day and opening event was attended by rental companies and end users providing an opportunity to try out the equipment, which included the world’s largest boom lift, the 265ft ZT82J telescopic and two of its new fixed frame telehandlers - the 2,500kg/six metre ZTH2506 and the 4,000kg/ 13.8 metre ZTH4014. Attendees were also updated on the latest company news, plans and technology developments, while meeting the relatively newly appointed team.

The day, however, felt somewhat quiet, perhaps due to hot temperatures and England’s loss to Argentina the night prior?..

The facility is currently manned by a team of nine full time staff and is still recruiting. It predicts that it will outgrow the Wolverhampton facility within two to three years before needing to expand. Additional plans include a 24-hour, walk-in parts counter where users can buy any replacement parts on the spot.

Founded in the 1970s, Zoomlion started out building trailer mounted concrete pumps before expanding into earthmoving equipment, mobile cranes and tower cranes, and it only began producing aerial work platforms in 2017. Less than 10 years later, it claims to be the third largest manufacturer in the world.

The company has 39 regional hubs around the world, 82 service partners and five manufacturing facilities, three in China, one in Mexico and , with 10,000 overseas employees plus 20,000 in China. Its largest manufacturing facility in Changsha covers a whopping 10,000 acres with the capacity, it says, to build an aerial work platform - painting, glazing, sandblasting, cladding, welding etc - in six minutes, all carried out by automated robots.

It has been active in the UK market for just six years, and acknowledges that it faces challenges around residual values, and less tangible prejudice against Chinese built equipment from some potential customers. Even so, it is set to introduce its full telehandler range to the UK, with 11 models from six to 25.5 metres, within the next few weeks with the first 25 metre unit set to be delivered to Essential Platforms in northwest Manchester today.

On the topic of telehandlers, research and development technical consultant Alkis Paraskevopoulos said: “During Bauma China, we will launch our largest telehandler yet, but at this time we can’t say exactly what size it will be. We are not interested in the race to have the biggest equipment, but we want to make machines that are safe and simple to use.”

The company is also building an additional manufacturing facility in Changsha dedicated to the production of forklifts, after reporting strong demand, and is planning to launch in the UK market in the coming weeks.

It also highlighted the race to develop innovative or adopt new technology. It is no longer just about how much a machine can lift or how far it can reach, but how intelligently it can work.

Global training manager, Dan Leyshon presented Zoomlion’s latest safety and technology developments, stating: “Everyone is chasing the same goal, ‘how can we make the machine as safe as possible?’ And we have to ask ourselves what we’re trying to do here - are we trying to ensure the operator goes home at night, or are we trying to protect the machine?”

“As a trainer, for me, it’s making sure you go home to your family. The latest safety developments aim to help prevent you from getting hurt, but ultimately, it has to be down to the operator and employer, to ensure that the equipment and safety features are properly employed.”

Technology developments on display included:

A new sensor equipped safety helmet is designed to help prevent crushing or collisions with overhead obstacles. Sensors are located on the top and rear of the helmet to monitor clearance, while built-in side speakers provide spoken alerts to the operator. The helmet connects to the aerial lift automatically and it will not operate unless the operator is wearing it. The battery provides two to three days’ use between charges and needs to reconnect to the machine every 50 minutes.

Tailswing anti-collision system: An anti-collision warning system intended to detect obstacles around the counterweight and provide a warning to the operator, The system can be fitted to any boom lift.

Equipment authorisation system : A near-field communications (NFC) keycard system that only allows a machine to operate when the operator’s card is unlocked at the time of use.

PDI Digital System has been developed in response to requests from rental companies and distributors to help speed up and document inbound and outbound checks, helping reduce the likelihood of missed manual checks and provide a clearer record of what has been inspected and when.

The system is structured around a defined inspection procedure and four test categories: safety equipment, function movements, input signals and liquid levels. The full sequence is said to take 44 minutes.

MyZoomlion is a digital/telematics fleet management portal, while also providing rapid access to parts & service information. It incorporates an in-house designed AI tool which draws on eight years of machine data to anticipate issues.

The Wolverhampton opening underlines Zoomlion’s push to put firmer roots down in the UK and Ireland, with a larger parts and service base and a local team.

While the customer day itself was low-key, the message was clear: the company is investing in infrastructure, expanding its product range, and putting increasing emphasis on safety systems and digital fleet tools alongside headline grabbing machines such as the ZT82J.

The next test will be how quickly those plans translate into wider market confidence and stronger uptake as the business scales beyond its first six years in the UK.

Additional photos below: