FEATURE | MANUFACTURING
includes the use of more automated cranes. He says that in response crane builders are looking to sell them either fully automated cranes or cranes that are able to be upgraded to be fully automated sometime in the future. “But while there are currently more cranes
with automation-type items on them, fully automated cranes are still few and far between,” Wemco’s Rouse declared. He, however, explains their automation will continue to progress and that, as new technologies are developed and become more mainstream, more automated cranes will be offered and more companies will be willing to buy them.
Rouse, however, says that it might take time for
that to happen given that a lot of manufacturers are looking to be as cost-effective as possible and, at least currently, non-automated cranes tend to be much cheaper than those with automation features. “But once automated cranes become more mainstream and cheaper, more people will be interested in buying them.”
Wemco is already seeing customer quoting activity starting to increase.
But given that there has been and will likely continue to be a high degree of caution when it comes to manufacturing and manufacturing related investments – and some instances of companies holding off, scaling down or cancelling projects until there is more clarity. “We need to see if actual actions will follow those words,” Simonson says. He also explains that this is the case when it
comes to manufacturers’ plans to either build new greenfield plants or to expand or upgrade existing facilities. For example, at the end of February, Air Products announced that it wouldn’t be going ahead with plans to build new facilities in California, New York and Texas. He also noted that Intel will only be building one semiconductor chip plant in Ohio as opposed to the five that it originally planned and that it has to stretch out the timeline for doing so to at least 2030. Given these market dynamics, Rouse adds that overhead crane demand by manufacturing companies is currently flat to slightly down. However, he predicts that by mid to late 2026, as new US manufacturing facilities are built – pushed by expectations of a push for on-shoring or reshoring – and companies upgrade their existing facilities and equipment, that the crane demand will improve.
In fact, he points out that while the actual buying activity hasn’t picked up quite yet, Wemco is already seeing customer quoting activity starting to increase. “That gives us hope that things are going in the right direction.”
Adapting to market conditions Others are more optimistic, citing the possibility that companies could even see a pickup in demand by later this year as there are also other factors that have been and will continue to affect the willingness of manufacturers to make
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investments. Piso says that one such factor is that, with the persistence of a labour shortage, many manufacturers have also been making investments in automating their facilities, not only to be able to produce their products efficiently but to be able to do so using fewer workers. Beightol agreed, noting that this is a good fit with manufacturers’ desire to find additional ways to “do more with less” during this time when there are no solutions on the horizon as far as their shortage of skilled workers. Schenker adds that jives with the most recent
results of his company’s monthly MHI Business Activity Index, which continues to be stronger than most manufacturing data and data for many other sectors of the economy. He noted that this comes at a time when both transportation and industrial equipment has been, and continues to be a positive contributor to US GDP growth despite both being very expensive and, therefore, very interest-rate sensitive. He expects that to continue to be the case, especially given that the demand is there for cranes and that producers’ backlogs of most material handling equipment, including cranes, are much lower than the had been two or three years ago with companies serving most manufacturing sectors working down their equipment backlogs. This is coming at a time when, whether because of tariffs or other supply chain issues, many crane builders are looking to find more local suppliers for some of the components that they use, Roberts says. “Also, in some cases we are witnessing more on-site assembly at end users as demand increases and manufacturers need the space in their facility for the next build.” Meanwhile, Piso pointed out that the manufacturers’ push for more automation in certain areas of their production processes
New innovations for new demands When it comes to the drivers for overhead crane demand by the manufacturing sector, Piso says that it is more or less equal for those needed for either new greenfield facilities or upgrades to existing facilities, while the replacement of older cranes with newer ones with new capabilities being a bigger factor. He notes that it isn’t just the push for greater
automation that is pushing such replacements, but in some cases, companies have been switching from direct current (DC) powered cranes to alternating current (AC) powered cranes, or are interested in switching to faster cranes to be able to increase their output or they might be interested in adding an additional crane to an existing runway.
Rouse also points out that crane builders are continually developing new technologies to make their cranes safer, including adding anticollision features to ensure that they won’t hit another crane on the runway. Overall, manufacturing-related overhead crane business has been pretty solid this year, even with the external factors that the OEMs have needed to work through, Beightol maintained. “Manufacturing companies understand that making decisions through the noise of uncertainty is an important part of any business today,” he says. “But as long as they remain keenly interested in improving their productivity and protecting their workers and general manufacturing activity remains positive, the industry should remain very healthy.” Prestige Economics’ Schenker agreed, stating that assuming that the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates, and that with increased national security priorities there is increased potential for reshoring, there should be upside opportunities both for the manufacturing sector and for overhead cranes through the end of this year and into 2026 and beyond that.
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