05.02.2010

Barloworld and JLG team up in the UK

Barloworld Handling, the UK distributor for Hyster fork trucks, is to offer JLG aerial lift products to its customers in the UK

Barloworld has a network of 16 locations in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland with over 1,000 support staff including 550 service engineers all of whom will be available to work on JLG products.

The company also runs forklift operator training schools from six of its locations, which could also add IPAF operators training to their range of courses.

Graham Jones, general manager UK Sales at Barloworld said: “Safety policies for working at height are now stricter than ever before, so we are pleased to be working with the leading manufacturer JLG to support customers across the UK”

Vertikal Comment

This is just the latest of a number of efforts by aerial lift producers to encourage a fork truck dealer with its large and sophisticated sales and service network to promote and support aerial lifts. With similar technology and more and more forklift owners beginning to use aerial lifts it should be a good fit.

While the logic and the statistics suggest that this should be a fantastic move, past efforts along similar lines have proven to be less exciting than watching paint dry. Companies such as Barloworld, or for that matter CAT dealers, tend to be too closely focussed on their main manufacturers and product lines to succeed with something different. Especially a product range with dozens of different models and relatively low volumes.

With more industrial and retail distribution companies using aerial lifts on a regular basis, many are now looking at acquiring them either by buying or contract rental along the lines they employ for their fork lift fleets.

It is possible though that the volume potential for this business are now sufficient to attract proper attention from large dealers such as Barloworld? Is this an idea whose time has come?