A Booming Business Spreads Its Wings World Ranking List 2006/2007 No doubt about it: 2006 was a landmark year in terms of economic growth. All those involved with materials handling vehicles benefited from ex- tremely strong market conditions. Most companies were able to repeat the success they achieved in the fiscal year of 2005, with substantial increases in both the number of units sold and profits. That said, forward-looking companies are already de- veloping strategies to cope with the post-boom period. – By Dipl.-Ing. Wolfgang Degenhard World Ranking List of Materials Handling Vehicles 2006 was an unprecedent- The said growth rate of 36 per- Worldwide Deliveries of Industrial Trucks in 2006 ed year in terms of the number cent applies to both counter- Division by Continent in Per Cent of materials handling vehi- balanced trucks and warehouse (Values in Brackets: Changes Compared to the Prior Year) Europe cles (MHV) that were devel- trucks. Russia, Poland, the 40% (±0) oped, produced and sold world- Ukraine and the Baltic States wide. Experts are unanimous achieved the highest growth as to the reasons behind these rates. The Markets of Eastern growth figures: the growth Europe therefore remain highly of international trade and interesting. America the booming logistics indus- 28% (-1) try which is dependent on ma- To round off the market study, Asia Africa Australia 28% (+1) terials handling vehicles. Ac- a quick glance towards the 2% (+1) Oceania cording to our research, approx. German market: Following a re- 2% (-1) 855,000 materials handling ve- served increase of demand for hicles were sold during the materials handling vehicles in Worldwide Deliveries of Industrial Trucks in 2006 year under review. This repre- 2005 with a growth rate of Division of Number of Units by Country in Per Cent sents an increase of 14 percent barely 4 percent, 2006 was a Others 24% USA compared to 2005. The high- year of dynamic market devel- 22% South Korea est growth rates were record- opment. Sales reached approx. 11% ed in the Asian market with 63,000 units, representing an 19 percent, followed by Eu- increase of 9 percent compared rope with 16 percent and North with the previous year’s result. China 11% America with 8 percent. Euro- The turnover with new units Japan 11% pean growth rates diverge sig- rose even more significantly to Canada 2% Spain Germany Italy France 4% Great Britain 8% nificantly: Eastern Europe saw roughly over 1 billion Euro, rep- 5% 4% 6% a growth rate of 36 percent, resenting 15 percent growth whereas Western Europe “only” compared with the same peri- recorded a growth of 13 per- od in the previous year. When Industrial Truck Model Types Distribution of Worldwide Production in Per Cent 2006 cent. viewing market development (Values in Brackets: Changes Compared to the Prior Year) based on product groups, fork- Industrial Trucks Growth rates are set to slow lifts grew more strongly both with IC Engine Electric Forklift Trucks 44% (+1) 18% (±0) down in 2007. One forecast with regards to sales (+12 %) predicts that total unit sales and turnover (+18 %) com- will grow by approx. 6 percent. pared with the values for ware- Asia is expected to be the mar- house trucks. ket leader again with a plus of 12 percent. Europe is expected Turrest Trucks Market aspects 11% (±0) to see the number of units sold We already described last year Electric Pedestrian Trucks increase by 10 to 12 percent. all the aspects which are signif- 27% (-1) North America is set to be the icant for the material handling Global Development of the Number of Units Recorded by worst performing market: A mi- vehicle market, and their rele- the Three Most Important Associations since 2002 nus of 10 percent is even fore- vance has practically remained cast for this region. It should unchanged. The market is still be mentioned at this point that expecting an increase in tai- while every effort is taken to lor-made units which are de- ensure these figures are as ac- veloped and produced for high- curate as possible, they cannot ly specialised tasks. However, claim to be fully exhaustive as since many of the major com- a “number of undisclosed cas- panies are not equipped to pro- es” also needs to be considered. duce specialised models of this That said, the estimated fig- kind, rather relying on series ures do point to trends which production models (featuring are helpful to manufacturers of options) for production, they materials handling vehicles for commission smaller-scale sup- (*) engl. Text ???? market development purposes. pliers to provide them with the required specialised models. The significance of market de- single materials handling vehi- supplier and as a service pro- velopment in Eastern Europe Many companies have come to cles. Arrangements whereby the vider, assuming overall respon- countries makes it worth list- realise at a heavy cost that it is supplier offers complete solu- sibility are still in trend. The ing a few facts in more detail: often no longer enough to offer tions and acts both as a system market expects suppliers to of- _ 1/007 (Special Print) units are becoming ever more er – as we have been informed Worldwide Deliveries in 2006: Industrial Trucks with IC Engine Distribution of Number of Units by Country in Per Cent easier to maintain and more re- – and is to continue operations liable as increasingly it is the under the new name of Lug- Others 24% supplier who has to pick up the li Factor. The Japanese com- USA 23% service bill. pany Shinko with their mate- South Korea 5% rials handling vehicles will not The trend towards used forklifts be included again in the world is continuing, and is even in- ranking list. The Shinko group creasing. With good reason: The of companies has sold their growth in the number of ma- MHV activities to Sumitomo Japan China 12% 20% terials handling vehicles which Nacco, a subsidiary of Nacco in Canada France Germany Spain Italy Great 2% Britain 3% 4% are let or operated by the sup- Japan. 2% 2% 3% pliers for the customers as fleets increases the number of Some manufacturers, also in- Worldwide Deliveries in 2006: Electric Forklift Trucks Distribution of Number of Units by Country in Per Cent units which are returned af- cluding large names, have an- ter a defined period. Vehicles of nounced that they do not want Others 22% this kind have two advantag- to be included in the rank- USA South Korea 20% es: They can be sold at an at- ing list. This includes Fantuz- 3% China tractive price and with a good zi and JCB. It seems the large 8% profit. Moreover, the sale of US American company Terex Canada used models provides a means now also belongs to this group 2% of penetrating price-sensitive of companies seeing that they Spain markets where operators have failed to provided us with any 5% Japan 14% Italy a more restricted budget. Used data. After estimating the fig- 9% Great Britain France Germany models are particularly suita- ures several times, for instance 3% 9% 5% ble as a means of demonstrat- once because no financial da- ing stable value and reliabili- ta was published due to “cer- Worldwide Deliveries in 2006: Turret Trucks ty. This provides an argument tain errors”, we have decided Distribution of Number of Units by Country in Per Cent in favour of replacing the used to exclude Terex with the “Ma- Others model by a new model from the terial Handlers” and “Container 24% South Korea same supplier when the client Stackers” from the list. 1% China USA 3% 26% updates their stock. Canada 2% Spain Market shares of the 2% Italy New entries and companies 3% dropouts in the list Manufacturer publications of- Great Britain Reactions from our readership ten make claims about mar- 5% France Japan Germany 6% 21% and our own research result in ket shares, which, however, for 7% the world ranking list continu- whatever reason do not entirely ally changing. This time the list reflect reality. To come closer to Worldwide Deliveries in 2006: Electric Pedestrian Trucks has seen three “new arrivals“: reality, the turnovers with mo- Distribution of Number of Units by Country in Per Cent the Chinese company Baoli, the torised materials handling vehi- Others Italian warehousing technology cles listed in the world ranking 27% USA specialist OMG and the German list were added together and South Korea 22% 0,1% company Magaziner with their increased by a “number of un- China 2% multi-purpose turret trucks. In disclosed cases”, which is based Canada 3% the future, we expect primarily on estimations of the large in- Asian companies to make it in- ternational professional asso- Japan to our list, provided we are pro- ciations. Last year we counted Spain 2% 6% vided with the necessary infor- using a number of undisclosed Italy 8% Great Britain Germany France mation. cases of 12 percent. Since the 4% 13% 13% market seems to be becoming In the near future, the Italian ever more transparent – in the fer complete solutions from a dling of client-oriented service company Lugli is likely to be in- meantime we are also receiv- single source, starting from in- concepts and the acceptance of cluded – or more precisely in- ing data from Asia – we have itial material flow planning via specially tailored leasing and fi- cluded again – as a new com- decreased the number of un- conceptualisation and schedul- nancing services is also impor- pany in the list. The MHV man- disclosed cases to 5 percent, a ing and the construction phase tant.