Recession? What recession? Ask the UK lifting and weighing industry how business compares to this time last year, and it seems things are looking up.

David Ayling, managing director of Straightpoint (UK) says: “We’re up more than 10% on a year ago as a result of widening our dealer network, which has increased orders from new markets such as Korea; exports are better than UK sales at present.”

“Our business today reflects the results of our three-year R&D programme to produce the unique design and safety features of Nautilus Hooks,” reports Bill Toon, managing director of Nautilus Rigging. “As with any new product, we experienced a slow domestic start but were surprised at the immediate global interest. Short term, we expect around 85% of our sales to come from exports, but local UK sales have been rising since the product launch last September at Offshore Europe.

“Our website is attracting interest from potential distributors around the world; we’ve already formalised an exclusive Australian distribution agreement and are in discussion with organisations from USA, Canada, Norway, New Zealand, Italy and Singapore.”

“Business is generally OK,” says David Upton, managing director of Niko Ltd. “It’s about the same as this time last year, but with more enquiries pending. We anticipate an increase in both domestic sales and export.”

“Industrial cranes in the UK market have seen a rebound in major project activity compared to the very quiet previous year,” says Andy Clarke, CEO, Western European sales region, Demag Cranes. “However, standard business in the form of components and standard cranes remains subdued. Orders in the current year have benefited from long-term relationships with blue-chip customers.

“The services market has seen a slight reduction in activity over 12 months. Service contract activity increased in volume due to our increased promotional and customer retention activities. Due to long-term capacity management activities and investment in flexible processes, our workforce remains stable.

“In the UK services market, major projects were put on hold throughout last year,” Clarke continues. “However, early 2010 appears to show renewed interest, with some orders being placed. There was no significant reduction in the workforce in 2009. Continued training and development is putting our services business on a stronger footing.

“In the UK port technology market, the previous business year saw a dramatic decline in new crane sales,” he admits. “Thankfully, this situation has reversed at the start of this year, with orders returning to pre-crisis levels. The UK ports businesses have begun to invest again in new and more flexible facilities, which fit well with our harbour crane product range. We’re therefore feeling an upswing in business confidence, however fragile.”

Beyond that, an integration process across the entire Demag Cranes Group has been started which will more closely link operations between our port technology and industrial cranes business, in order to even raise more synergies and efficiency in the future.”

However, Aloysius Rauen, CEO of publicly listed Demag Cranes AG, emphasised in a press release on the first quarter results of the current financial year that he sees a stabilising trend, but still at a low level and that the end of weak demand in many markets was not yet in sight.

Far from having to cut back on capacity during these lean times, both Straightpoint and Niko report stepping up production to meet increased orders, while Toon says: “We’ve planned a controlled introduction of all seven models of Nautilus Hooks throughout the first half of 2010 to integrate our own rigid quality control procedures with those of our manufacturers as we ramp up production to meet the international demand. The first versions, the 8t WLL series, are available now. We’re in the final tooling phase for the 4t and 12t versions, which will be available in March/April, with the 16t and 20t hooks scheduled for May.”

However, Nikolai Juchem, head of corporate communications and marketing for Demag Cranes, reports that the company had to implement a restructuring process last year in order to counteract the economic and financial crisis. “We responded quickly by reducing temporary employees and annual leave and overtime,” he says. “Due to a further downturn in orders and a lack of any sign of a mid-term recovery, the management board proposed a restructuring programme to safeguard the future of the group. This includes cutting up to 750 jobs worldwide, monitoring and optimising our structure, reducing fixed and variable costs in our segments and uniting management of shared services such as IT, human resources and purchasing under the roof of the Demag Cranes Group. In this way, we aim to add further flexibility to our production capacity.”

To make sure the company is prepared for improved market conditions when recovery comes, Straightpoint has invested in a new, larger purpose-built factory, which will better enable it to deal with its increasing orders and to test industrial equipment on-site. “As part of this major investment, we will shortly take delivery of brand new state-of-the-art testing equipment (built to our own specifications), allowing us to test load cells on-site,” says Ayling. “We believe this is the only one of its type in the UK and will allow an even quicker turnaround on our service. We’ve also taken on a new staff member to help with our increase in orders.”

Nautilus has identified a requirement for increased production capacity at several key trigger points, says Toon. “One of these is increased demand through general economic recovery although, more importantly for our new Hooks product, is the increased demand we expect from the onshore industry as our end-user exposure increases, similar to the ‘word of mouth’ growth in sales we’ve seen in the offshore industry,” Toon says. “We are forming the production links to meet expected demand over the next year or two.”

Niko is using the downtime to develop new products and is investing in new staff. “We’re developing a lightweight overhead crane for mounting into the roofs of vans and lorries, which cantilevers outside the rear or side opening of the vehicle,” says Upton.

“It’s ideal for lifting loads up to 500kg, and can be retro-fitted to most vehicles and powered by the same 12v or 24v battery that powers the vehicle. Its radio control handset can be charged using the cigarette lighter of the van or lorry.

“We are constantly working with our customers to research and development existing products as well as researching new niche products to manufacture and supply. To improve on production, design and testing, we’ve employed a full-time fabrication engineer who is helping to reduce delivery times and cut overheads on sub-contracted fabrication work.”

Staff training is very important, Upton adds. Last year Niko staff completed training programmes in sales, marketing, purchasing, material handing and forklift truck driving.

Straightpoint is also continuing R&D. “As a result, we launched five new products at the end of last year, with orders already taken,” says Ayling.

They include the Jumboweigher foundry, a crane scale designed for use in high temperature environments supplied with a heat guard, specially filmed high temperature front glass and an infrared remote control and charger. It can be used at temperatures of 1,600 degrees C at 2m from heat source. Also new are the Jumboweigher trade, a crane scale with an infrared remote control and charger, available in capacities of 1t.5t, 3t and 5t; the Jumboweigher ATEX, ideal for use in hazardous areas (zones 1 and 2) in accordance with Ex II 2G IIC T4 and available in capacities of 6t, 10t, 15t, 25t and 35t; the Compound Plus, a new handheld display which connects to Straightpoint’s Radiolink Plus loadcell range, allowing connection with up to 12 radio links to the single handheld and to view individual loads and a total lead; and Wirelink Plus, a non-indicating cable version of the Loadlink Plus, an electronic force measurement device.

Toon says Nautilus has been in R&D for the past four years. “Now our products are ready for market we see this economic downturn as an opportunity for our fledgling company to make our entry,” he explains. “During offshore field trials, our products were proven to be much safer than traditional hooks. So even in these hard times we’re making sales to organisations that are really committed to improving workplace safety. Our R&D is now concentrated on several specialist applications for innovative products that we aim to introduce over the next year.”

Demag is also continuing R&D and launching new products. “In the port technology segment, the battery AGV is an important module in handling equipment and is being developed as part of our Green Range programme,” explains Juchem. “By implementing zero exhaust emissions, low-consumption and thus environmentally aware technologies, we aim to meet the current and future environmental requirements of our port and terminal customers. In the industrial crane segment we’ve launched a new grab for handling packed rolls of paper. It enables the lifting of both single items and sets of up to four rolls with a total weight of 6t, and significantly increases the handling rates in automatic stores served by our process cranes.”

Ayling believes Straightpoint is, “in the lucky position of not being hit by the recession, as we are such a niche product and service provider.

“Our area of the market is still growing and, due to our investment, we will continue to be ahead of the game,” he thinks. “In addition, with our different dealerships around the world, we’re able to spread the risk; for example, the Middle East is still very buoyant.”

Toon also sees Nautilus Rigging as being ahead of the curve, “because of the uniqueness of our products, which are subject to international patent applications.

“Safety, being the over-riding consideration for the offshore industry, is driving our growth, which will be sustained by the onshore industry adopting a similar safety culture across the board. We’ve already noted the interest from major insurance companies in the unique safety aspects of our products, as there are potential compensation issues for injuries sustained while using traditional hooks and the use of our products may have a bearing on construction industry premiums.”

Upton says: “We have redeveloped our website and are employing new search engine optimisation techniques to ensure higher traffic from the major search engines. “Increasing demand from the US and Canada has prompted us to establish a distributor in Rhode Island, called NikoTRACK. It’s stocking and supplying our track and fittings, and will concentrate on the overhead conveyor and workstation bridge crane markets. We’re working at building on our increasing presence in various UK markets: lifting equipment, overhead conveyors, sliding doors, fall arrest, construction and material handling and power supply for industrial machinery.”

What end-user markets, if any, have shown immunity to the slump? “We have found testing to be recession-proof organisations still need to safety test their equipment, no matter what the market is doing,” says Ayling.

“Our initial target market was the offshore oil and gas industries as they are safety driven and would readily accept the premium that our products demand,” says Toon. “Since launching, we have consistently met or exceeded our sales forecasts for Nautilus Hooks. We’ve had several enquiries to adapt the product for use on chain blocks and hoists, a relatively simple modification that we believe is a new opportunity to expand the market base for our products.”

“Our Niko Scaffolding Runway System is consistently proving very successful in the construction industry,” says Upton. “It enables the lifting and moving of loads around any scaffolding structure. The runway system connects directly to the scaffolding system and can be used in conjunction with a hoist or winch to lift weights up to 1,600kg. It‘s distributed predominantly through hire companies like Speedy Hire and Concord Lifting although some construction companies buy it to re-use on future projects.”

Juchem believes few markets have been unaffected by the worldwide drop in demand seen in the materials handling sector. “There have been differing falls in demand but nobody is immune,” he says. “Sectors in the power generation field generally seem to be doing better. In this industry, we’ve recently had some interesting orders worldwide. For example we have installed a semi-automatic bale handling crane system at Drax Power Limited’s new biomass processing facility at Goole, Yorkshire.”

So what can the UK market expect of 2010 and 2011? “The crane and material handling sectors are generally affected late in the economic cycle and will also recover with a delay of at least six months, respectively,” thinks Juchem. “Despite a few positive early indicators being visible and a stablising trend in order intake, the extent and duration of the crisis still can’t be predicted.”

Upton expects, “small growth in 2010 and further growth in 2011”, while Toon thinks Nautilus will experience, “continued global economic recovery and corresponding increasing sales volumes for our products as we penetrate the global market”.

“We are hoping for the worldwide slump to pick up in 2010,” says Ayling. “Although, as the pound gets stronger, export business suffers in profitability, so it is a trade-off between gaining additional business and less profitability. There are indications that recovery is on its way; increased stability with the banks and potential interest rate rises later in the year, as well as the pound growing against the US dollar. There also seems to be more confidence in the market now; we’re seeing an increase in quotations for bigger projects, and some big repair jobs are coming through now, whereas last year big repairs were put on hold due to the hesitancy in the market.

As for 2011, I don’t believe the market will ever get back to how it was; as reckless lending is a thing of the past, so is reckless spending. However, the market will still continue to grow.”