Manitowoc’s double digit growth
Crawler cranes in the Americas drive growth
Manitowoc reported strong sales although orders were lower than expected
Manitowoc Cranes has reported a strong third quarter, with total sales up more than 10%, rising to $612.6 million, up from $555m the same period in 2012.
The main drivers of business were continued growth in the Americas region through increased crawler crane activity, as well as ongoing success with Manitowoc Crane Care, the company’s aftermarket product support solution.
Manitowoc CEO and chairman Glenn Tellock commented, “While the global markets have not rebounded to the degree that we had expected, we generated solid third-quarter sales growth and notable margin improvement, driven by strength in our crawler crane product line, the success of our new products, as well as the execution of our lean manufacturing, purchasing, and product quality initiatives.
“Order intake, however, did track lower than expected, reflecting the cautious and conservative spending actions of many customers. Despite these headwinds, we continue to execute our strategies and focus on the areas we can control, which will ultimately drive long-term, sustainable growth and margin improvement including expanding our global footprint, accelerating new product innovation, and driving operational excellence.”
Manitowoc is currently involved in a patent dispute in America with Sany, alleging that the Chinese company used stolen intellectual property to build its SCC8500 crawler crane. The crane uses a moveable counterweight allowing it to be set up in different configurations, which Manitowoc says infringes its patent on its Variable Position Counterweight (VPC), used in its 31000 crawler, but likely to soon be launched on smaller crawler models.
