EASTERN PROMISE
Chinese powered access platform manufacturers now have a firm foothold in the UK market – and more are coming. Dan Jenkins reports on what this means for the hire sector.
T
he rise in popularity of Chinese-made powered access equipment in the UK
has been meteoric, but not unexpected. There is still a long way to go for China to overtake the North American and European manufacturers in the UK market, but they undoubtedly have a firm foothold. Could this be a case study for how China enters the rest of the UK plant equipment markets?
UK pioneer
Dingli was the first Chinese manufacturer to enter the UK powered access market. After initially working through dealers, it created a subsidiary company, Dingli Machinery UK, and appointed industry veteran Andy Northwood as its general manager.
“Dingli were the pioneers of Chinese access platform manufacturers in the UK,” he said. “We now sell through a wholly owned subsidiary which has been a key ingredient in people having confidence that we are fully committed to the market.
“I was approached by Dingli in 2015 and my initial reaction was to be a little sceptical. Dingli invited me over to their latest factory (at that time) and it was an eye-opener for me. I saw a level of automation in the manufacturing processes that I hadn’t seen in European or North American manufacturers.”
Changing perceptions
For years, Chinese platforms were perceived as low cost and low quality – but that has now changed. “The first task was to get people to understand that it was a good quality product,” he added. “It probably took us a couple of years until people started to believe that message.
“People had the courage to invest in Dingli products and they - and in particular their engineers - became good ambassadors for our brand. We are in an industry where there is a lot of chatter and we benefited from our customers talking positively about our products. It has allowed us to grow from
virtually zero machines in the UK 6 years ago, to a population approaching 5000 units.”
For Wayne Lawson, director of Pinnacle Platforms, the UK dealer for Sinoboom, the lines are blurring between western and eastern manufacturers. “The question that is worth asking is, what is a Chinese manufacturer? All the major western brands manufacture in China and this blurs the lines between a Chinese owned manufacturer and a western manufacturer. And of course, many of the component suppliers are based in China as well.
“It is equally interesting how Chinese manufacturers are reversing the process and are developing manufacturing facilities in western markets – Sinoboom has just announced a production facility in Poland to serve Europe. The global village manufacturing scenario is changing pace and recent events have driven that change, such as the cost of freight. A container with one big boom lift in it is shipping a lot of fresh air and shipping costs are extremely high at the moment. So, building in China and shipping around the world is no longer always the best option.
Three's company - XCMG scissors.
20 Executive Hire News - July/August 2022
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