Sales of aerial work platforms have gone up! up! and away! over the last three years
Published in: Diesel Progress North American
Date: 8/1/1997
By: Yengst, Charles R.
The aerial work platform industry has been enjoying a boom for the past three years. Most of the large demand for aerial work platforms, which include scissor lifts and boom machines, is coming from the rental equipment industry which has built up huge rental fleets that cater to the needs of the construction industry. JLG, the largest firm in the business, had 1996 sales of $413 million and is predicted to have 1997 sales amounting to $500 million. However, a slight downturn in the industry is predicted for the coming years.
During the past three years, the aerial work platform business has been absolutely crazy. Sales of scissor lifts in North America have jumped over 200 percent since 1993 and the boom lifts are not far behind at about 165 percent. JLG and Skytrack, to name a few, are smiling all the way to the bank, and their stocks have jumped even more than their respective sales of machines.
Let’s go back for a little history. In 1993, the industry had just recovered from a massive downturn in business in the early ’90s and most observers expected sales to climb about 15 percent annually for a few years. Sales had been good in 1993, with scissor lifts up about 40 percent over the low point in 1992. Then came 1994 and sales jumped almost 80 percent; ’95s sales popped 47 percent and finally ’96 came in with another vault of 20 percent. Total sales in 1996 were estimated in excess of 33,000 scissor lifts.
In the boom machines, sales for 1996 were close to 12,500 units, which compares with about 4750 units in 1993. Sales were up more than 50 percent in ’96 vs. ’95.
Where is all of this demand coming from? Most is coming from the rental equipment business. Machinery dealers have built huge rental fleets of these machines, primarily because they see the rental fleet as a way to make a lot of money and the best avenue through which to sell the machines to the end customers, generally contractors in the building industry. Aerial work platforms are also being purchased by the independent rental houses such as Hertz Equipment Rental, Prime Equipment and U.S. Rentals.
At last count, there were about 25 manufacturers selling these machines in North America, most of them stationed here full time, with a few importers from Europe. Names such as JLG, Simon, Skyjack, Snorkel, Mayville, Grove and Genie are the big players in the boom and scissor lift markets. Then come a slew of companies that share the “what’s left” category.
Without doubt, the biggest of the aerial work platform companies is JLG, which is the Caterpillar of the work platform industry. While you can’t equate the two companies in terms of size, they are similar in market penetration and leadership in the business. JLG, based on our estimates, accounted for about 23 percent of scissor lift sales in 1996 and approximately 38 percent in boom lifts, where it dominates.
JLG’s sales have climbed from $123 million in 1993 to $413 million in 1996 and should be in the range of $500 million for the year that ended this July 31.
Skyjack, located in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, is second in the scissor lifts, ranked closely behind JLG. The company is another success story in recent years and achieved sales results for the fiscal year just ended of $197 million (Canadian) versus $129 million for the prior year, a 53 percent increase. The company’s scissor lifts account for an estimated 83 percent of total sales, while expansion into self-propelled boom lifts and truck lifts is growing rapidly and now accounts for about 17 percent of the total.
In the scissor lifts the top players after JLG and Skyjack are Upright, Mayville, Grove (Manlift) and Snorkel in that order. Upright, based in Selma, Calif., accounts for about 14 to 15 percent of the scissor market and has been growing at a fast pace like the other major suppliers.
In the boom lifts, Genie is a distant second behind JLG, followed by Grove and Snorkel. The top four companies in the boom lifts account for over 75 percent of the industry’s sales.
One of the eye-catching events thus far in 1997 has been the acquisition of Simon Aerials by Terex Corp., which already has Mark Industries as part of its stable of businesses. Simon and Mark together will be a major force in the scissor lift business, as well as the boom business. The Simon Access purchase cost Terex $90 million. Terex Cranes, a subsidiary of Terex Corp., will operate the access business and the Mark and Simon brand names will disappear, to be known in the future as Terex Aerials.
Thus far in 1997, sales of machines continue to move forward, perhaps at a slower rate than seen in recent years, but ahead nonetheless. We are looking for growth of about 5 percent in the domestic market this year at best, some of which may be inventory building.
Yes, there will be a downturn perhaps in the next year or two, but not like the one that devastated the business in the early ’90s. And I’ll go out on the limb and say that there will be consolidation within the industry as companies not having aerial work platforms among their product offerings will seek those that do.
Charles R. Yengst is president of Yengst Associates, Inc., a market research company headquartered in Wilton, Conn. E-mail yengst@netaxis.com
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