Refreshing parts others fail to reach
August 1st 2007

Jungheinrich UK managing director, Hans-Herbert Schultz, says internal optimisation, new products and a bullish truck market will deliver at least 10 per cent growth this year.

Brendan Coyne reports

Renowned for its reach trucks (of which it claims a 33 per cent European market share), Jungheinrich expects growth in all segments – from high-end specialist trucks demanded by new concept DCs to electric powered pallet trucks necessitated by manual handling regulations. Schultz also expects big things from the new EKX and a new line of large engined trucks launching next month.

Should early growth indications bear fruit, Schultz says the company is well placed to deliver without adding to its current infrastructure. While some of its competitors are undergoing change, Schultz believes the company's internal reshaping (sales, product and service teams re-arranged to match account size and new route optimising engineer dispatch software) has paved the way to deliver more trucks, and keep them running optimally, delivering higher productivity at lower cost.

Battery bonus With two thirds of its business made from large users, Jungheinrich's ability to supply own-branded batteries from the industry's largest suppliers creates economies of scale.

This year it will also produce 30,000 chargers at its Norderstedt plant. Marketing manager, Craig Johnson, says a new Intelligent Battery Organising System (IBOS) launching across the group will attract further attention from the major fleets.

The system uses a chip in the charger that senses when a battery is fully charged, links to a display board and tells operators which battery to use. "In the past, not necessarily through laziness, operators tended to go for the first battery in the rack, which reduces battery lifespan because it's neither properly charged nor equalised," says Johnson. "Research with one of our largest customers showed they could use fewer batteries in their multi-shift environment, meaning lower initial cost as well as lifetime savings. In a fleet of 200 machines, 400 batteries and 100 chargers, if you can lose 20 per cent of those chargers and batteries you're starting to save big money.

Direct approach Jungheinrich also claims an edge on some rivals through its direct service approach, insisting competitors with independent regional dealers cannot guarantee consistency. According to Johnson, Jungheinrich engineers are given award winning standardised training, and laptops that show exploded views of the truck and where every part fits. Part numbers are then sent via 3G card to the central parts organisation, and delivered to engineers' vans overnight. Served by a daily 'air bridge' from Frankfurt to Coventry Airport, parts can also be sent direct to customers' sites before 6.00am the following morning.

East is East Schultz says the centralised approach also affords protection from new manufacturers entering the market, particularly those in the Far East.

While some Eastern manufacturers are taking market share within the counterbalance market, he believes the warehouse truck market is beyond them – at least for now. "I'm convinced that it won't happen in the same way [as the counterbalance market]. In the warehouse sector the customer wants quality and bespoke solutions, making it more difficult for the Chinese, for example, to compete only by price." "If they come in the longer term, OK, we have more competition but they have to compete to our conditions and set up their own service organisations in local markets to local conditions – which makes it easier to compete with them." Conversely, Jungheinrich is actually making headway in new IC markets such as Poland and Russia. "Funnily enough we are very strong in this market in IC counterbalance, so we can see our products compete with everybody," says Schultz.

"Here it is only about history – everybody entered these markets in the nineties when they opened up. We started as a fresh organisation without a history, put the right people in place locally and gained access to the right customers." Of its own China plant, Jungheinrich says output will be purely for the local market.

"Maybe we will use it for other categories in the future," says Schultz. "But from today's point of view, we won't sell these trucks in Europe because they are an Asian specification - and Jungheinrich stands for high quality German engineering. We will not dilute that by bringing more simply manufactured trucks into this market." The latest products rolling off the German production line will be unveiled in September. Until the launch, Jungheinrich can disclose little information other than "large engined counterbalance trucks plus a new line of stand on powered pallet trucks", according to Johnson. Alongside its existing reach trucks (Jungheinrich invented the concept) the company expects its new models will appeal to both medium and major customers alike, but particularly shrewder retail operators.

While Johnson says such customers simply want higher productivity in their warehouse while lowering lifetime costs (ie move more product for less money) the company is confident of a good year.

Next year's BITA figures will reveal all.

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