| More

Lift trucks: Solving the financial puzzle

Own, lease, or rent? According to lift truck consultants, the method that businesses pay for lift trucks tends to be a sound economic indicator. Here’s how distributors are working to solve the complex needs of today’s fleet owner.
image
By Tom Andel, Contributing Editor
August 13, 2010 - LM Editorial

If an analyst told you that a market was in recovery, you’d probably think that was good news. Not so fast. If you were talking about the lift truck market you’d have to get beyond the complexity first. In fact, some business analysts see recovery being as problematic as the recession when it comes to lift trucks.

George Keen is one of those. Keen’s a senior consultant with Currie Management Consultants, a Worcester, Mass.-based firm that specializes in distributor business enhancement strategies. Keen sees the lift truck market as a remarkably complex puzzle, as challenging to understand for sellers as it is for buyers.

According to Keen, customers’ purchasing philosophy and behaviors evolve over time as a market matures.

The problem with lift trucks is that although they are mature products, they employ some of the most leading-edge technologies around—from computers and sensors to alternative power sources.

This leads to unpredictable buying patterns and competing approaches to selling. Depending on their needs, buyers may make their lift truck selection based on product innovation, price, total value, or total cost of ownership. Keen sees these as phases.



About the Author

Tom Andel
Contributing Editor

Tom Andel is a Contributing Editor to Logistics Management


Subscribe to Logistics Management magazine

Subscribe today. It's FREE!
Get timely insider information that you can use to better manage your
entire logistics operation.
Start your FREE subscription today!

Recent Entries

House T&I Committee removes truck weight provision from American Energy and Infrastructure Act
Shortly after the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee rolled out its five-year, $260 billion federal transportation authorization, entitled the American Energy and Infrastructure Act, a key component of it centered around trucking productivity was stripped from the bill’s language during a markup session by the committee.

Non-manufacturing activity is off to a good start in 2012, according to ISM data
The January NMI—at 56.8—is up 3.8 percent over December’s and is at its highest level since reaching 56.3 in March 2011.

Con-way reports strong fourth quarter and full-year earnings
Revenue—at $1.32 billion—was up 8.7 percent over last year’s $1.21 billion.

Intelligrated breaks ground on headquarters expansion
The company is building a 108,000 square-foot building, which company officials said will be dedicated to its engineering, customer service, and R&D staffing, and testing facilities.

PwC says transportation and logistics deals slipped in Q4, but 2012 should be a good year
Fourth quarter transportation and logistics merger & acquisition activity was not as strong as it was in the third quarter, but the end results were mostly impressive, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Comments

Post a comment
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.