It is the industry’s worst kept secret: just because a certain manufacturer’s name and logo is on a hoist, does not necessarily mean that it actually made that hoist. The prevalence of buying in equipment, putting your own brand on it, and then passing it off as your own is standard industry practice. In fact the same hoist can appear at trade shows on several different stands with a different manufacturer’s badge on it at each location.
There is, of course, nothing wrong with co- operation. It might make eminent sense for a US chain hoist manufacturer, for example, to make friends with a European rope hoist maker so that both can offer a full product line. But why do they insist on disguising (at best) or actually lying about (at worst) the origins of the product? The usual answer is that each party believes that its brand is so strong that its customers want to see its badge on the products it sells. But there is still no reason to be so coy about badging deals. If you are ashamed of the origins of your product, you should not be marketing it.
Most companies will admit in private that they don’t really make all their products, but they are very keen that we should not report the fact in this magazine. The subterfuge we are being asked to perpetuate makes what is really a respectable arrangement seem like a confidence trick on the customer. It is time to come clean.
