Hire and Rental News - Access in Action - August 2018

36 ACCESS IN ACTION • AUGUST 2018 ACCESS in ACTION JG: Worldwide we have seen a 50% increase in plate and hot roll steel and we unfortunately have to pass those costs onto the customers so we introduced the steel surcharge. In North America it is universal – there are no exceptions. We will monitor the situation and modify it according to changes in costs as they happen. Manufacturing lead times have extended because the global demand for steel has increased. Genie has done a good job of ramping up (increasing) production but the supply base is having a hard time keeping up. Lead time is getting longer. We are talking to customers to get their needs for the next 12-18 months because supplying equipment takes more planning now. The market has been through some difficult years; where in the past we might have had excess stock, now we are in a growth phase. BL: Construction activity is up in Australia. Sydney and Melbourne are driving the construction boom in both residential and non-residential projects. Queensland is coming on – it is always about two years behind the big capital markets. For eg: the Queens Wharf development in Brisbane is a $4bn project which will drive market growth in Brisbane. In Sydney the market is being driven by construction projects like the second airport development and tunnel construction including the North Connex. Melbourne is focused on its tunnels too to help ease traffic congestion. JG: We are very encouraged by the market which is extremely buoyant and optimistic. Customers are indicating it will be a year of infrastructure and investment with opportunities for growth and we are excited by all that creates for Terex. Finding solutions to maintain competitive focus Sitting down for a chat with John Garrison (JG), President and CEO of Terex Corporation (keynote speaker on Day One at HIRE18) and Brad Lawrence (BL), Genie General Manager Australia, Terex AWP, on the exhibition floor at HIRE18, we talked steel costs and manufacture lead times, market buoyancy and the increasing need to secure young people and apprentices to the industry. Editor, Allison Leo provides a snapshot of the insight of the two Terex leaders. The market is very strong in the US. The rental market is seeing increased rental rates and capital equipment growth. We are now seeing synchronised growth following the difficult years since 2008. In Australia there has been a lull after the mining boom but residential construction is now driving the market in the capital cities. Competitively, Genie is number one and two globally; we have good market positions. BL: Locally the market is competitive and getting more competitive. But we see this as an opportunity to step up in terms of innovative products and customer solutions for eg: the S85 boom extra capacity and hybrid power. We plan to extend the extra capacity capabilities across the entire Genie boom range. This extra capacity enables all tools and up to three people to go up once to do the job. We are all about finding solutions for the customer. We can help find financial solutions for our customers through Terex Financial Solutions (TFS). We work with banks and have developed a contractual relationship with them to arrange finance for the customer. We have developed Genie 360 Support offering parts and service to help keep our customers' machines running efficiently plus we have our rebuild program for Genie machines 10 years and older. Telematics is new to the aerial market and is starting to become more widely adopted. Our new boom design features the CANBus system which is a plug n play GPS Telematics system on our new equipment. It began with the S85 and now offers additional information like fuel levels, shutdown information and can monitor the machines remotely, as well as providing a range of other data. On our older machines, output information was already accessible for operation information like usage hours, fuel system information and so on. Our new hybrid drive offers more energy and emission efficient technology similar to the Toyota Prius technology by offering an ‘all electric’ or ‘all diesel’ option. The machine will work off the battery then will kick in with the engine when the battery runs low; it is all about propulsion and lift. Hybrid technology will be a big part of the Genie range going forward. JG: In the US our emissions restrictions are not anywhere near as stringent as in Europe and the UK. But we are keeping pace with the hybrid technology. We can use diesel engine for a week or the battery for a day and the battery has the same rough terrain capability as the diesel engine. It is the first time we’ve sold a machine capable of going both indoor and outdoor. We’re also using digitisation to improve efficiency and productivity. Aerially, the man-machine interface is still important. Continued on p38.. John Garrison, President and CEO of Terex Corporation