I’m glad I didn’t because it alerted me to the liquidation of Japanese hoist maker Nitchi.
Attached was a business closing letter dated 12 May 2023 and addressed to “valued customers and suppliers”. It announced that Nitchi was closing its business from 30 June.
Clicking on www.nitchi.co.jp in the second week of July confirmed that something was up.
I contacted the parent company, the Japanese engineering business Katsuyama Kikai, which forwarded me an almost identical letter, but with this extra information: “We intend to establish our production line for [the following] products [manual chain hoists – under 5.0t – and lever hoists] as alternatives by around 1 October 2023. We will make a separate announcement once our production line is well prepared.”
Further questioning revealed that the new Katsuyama Kikai product line-up will be “different from Nitchi’s”, and that “Nitchi has decided to close their business, and Katsuyama Kikai [will] not take over any of the [Nitchi] business including its engineering and products…”
The (clearly) genuine individual behind the message in my inbox wanted to know what the closure would mean for the repair and maintenance of Nitchi hoists in the future, so I asked the question. Here’s what Katsuyama Kikai said: “Nitchi no longer exists as a company, so they cannot provide a service for product warranty, return, spare parts, exchange and technical support anymore.”
So if you own a Nitchi hoist, it looks like you are on your own.
For anyone out there with information on other matters that you think Hoist readers will find valuable on this or any other subject, then please contact me and let’s let our community know about it.
