Street Crane Company’s managing director, Andrew Pimblett, has returned to the UK from a three week tour of North America with orders in his briefcase.
Street Crane has been developing overseas markets for components for several years and is now targeting North America.
Pimblett told Hoist: “Building high value component sales through partnering with other crane companies in overseas markets is the backbone of our export strategy. This has worked extremely well for us in Europe, the Middle East, Pacific Rim and South Africa.
“North America was targeted in our business plan for 1998 and our campaign began in February. Of 21 independent crane manufacturers mailed, 18 responded, eight have visited our factory and six have now agreed to become distributors with exclusive territory franchises.” The first company to take delivery of components is Canco of British Columbia. The other five partners have placed stock orders, Pimblett said.
With North America undergoing a market shake-out, Street Crane believes that, as an independent company, it is an attractive partner to those regional crane manufacturers who are uneasy about sourcing hoists, end trucks and other components from companies which are also their competitors.
As well as advanced hoists and components, Street Crane also provides software for costing, quotation, specification, drawings and crane classification “that adds value for our business partners”.