US crane manufacturer Morris Material Handling Inc/P&H has appointed its third independent, non-exclusive dealer. As of 1 February, Milwaukee Crane in Tigard, Oregon, is an authorised genuine P&H parts distributor, and sales and service agent.
Milwaukee Crane joins Wazee, of Denver, Colorado, and SomaTex, of Pittsfield, Maine, both set up since 2003.
Over the last decade or so Morris has sold and serviced cranes only through owned subsidiaries. The company’s main service hubs are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Birmingham, Alabama, Erlanger, Kentucky, Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio, Chicago, Illinois, Waukesha, Wisconsin, Houston and Dallas, Texas, Salt Lake City, Utah, Phoenix, Arizona, and Los Angeles and San Leandro, California.
Since then, the company has brought in extra dealers to support customers that are a long way from these. As part of the deal, Milwaukee Crane will stop selling generic replacement parts for P&H cranes. SomaTex also goes through Morris for P&H parts, said Jason Amara, who works for SomaTex’s inspection division.
Milwaukee, Wazee and SomaTex sell cranes and spare parts, but ‘big engineered cranes will mostly be direct,’ Mike James, Morris Material Handling vice president, told Hoist.
Milwaukee also sells Ace heavy-duty hoists, CM hoist brands and Gorbel and Spanco light cranes, and Electromotive components. Wazee sells Ace, Acco, CM hoist brands, Detroit Hoist, Harrington, Ingersoll-Rand, R&M, Saturn Engineering, Stahl and Street. SomaTex sells Ace, Acco, Demag, CM, R&M, Street, Gorbel and Hetronic remote controls, among others. Half of the time customers request a hoist by name, Amara of SomaTex said.
Morris’s Mike James did not rule out the possibility of competition between dependent and independent dealers. ‘This will occur on occasion. Good communication helps, and customers ultimately decide,’ he said. More independent dealers are likely.
In late January the company announced that although 2004 sales of $133.4m were down 2% on last year, audited operating profit increased by 21%.
The company reduced debt by $8.5m to less than $2m with cash from operations and ‘sale of excess assets’.
‘As a stronger company, we now have greater access to bonding as well as the ability to better manage the cost of medical insurance, worker’s compensation and liability insurance,’ president and CEO Jack Stinnett said in a statement.
New orders for 2004 amounted $160m, up 16% from 2003.
The company also reported expanding engineering and project management facilities in New Berlin, Wisconsin and the start-up of drum and gear machine tools in Watertown, Wisconsin.
