28.06.2004

Grove renew UK support contract for Sam Walkers

The Manitowoc crane group has formally announced the renewal of the long term service agreement with Samuel Walker Ltd for the supply of field service, warranty cover, parts and technical support for Grove cranes in the UK. The formal renewal was delayed from the end of last year, thanks to a busy start to te year combined with a review and updae of the contract detail. While not commented on, it is also likely that Manitowoc also took the opportunity to consider combining Grove service in the UK with that of Potain and Manitowoc.

The support partnership between Grove and “Sammy Walker” goes back over 30 years, beginning with coverage of Scotland and moving on to covering the whole of the UK.
Samuel Walker operates from two centres located in Glasgow and Manchester with 30 service engineers of whom 15 are dedicated to Grove field service.

Sam Walker, director, said, “We have one of the largest, most experienced and best-equipped crane service teams in the UK, Our technicians are fully-trained and equipped with laptops for plug-in fault diagnosis, and backed by parts warehouses, repair workshops, and training facilities.”

“In the UK, Sam Walker has given consistent and dependable support for Grove over many years, and so we have confidence in extending and building on that partnership for the future,” said Thibaut Le Besnerais, director of Manitowoc Crane Care’s Europe, Middle-East and Africa Region.

The use of an independent parts and service organization is unique in the mobile crane business in the UK. Both Liebherr and Terex Demag run their own service teams, while Tadano Faun operates though a distributor. Reports from companies that run mixed fleets in the UK, speak highly of the speed of response and quality of service that they get from Walkers.

Other Manitowoc crane products: Manitowoc crawler cranes and Potain tower cranes, are supported by Manitowoc’s UK central office, based in Uxbridge, where the company has five field service technicians and a parts warehouse.