Manitowoc Cranes, founded as Manitowoc Speedcrane in 1925, produces and distributes cranes and crane support systems around the world. Its crane division consists of the Grove, Manitowoc, National Crane, and Potain brands. All of these brands account for more than 185,000 crane sales worldwide.[1]
Manitowoc's material handling and lift products include crawler cranes, mobile telescopic cranes, tower cranes, scissor lifts (also known as aerial work platforms), all terrain cranes, hydraulic truck cranes, boom trucks, and boom lifts.
Manitowoc Foodservice, (originally Manitowoc Equipment Works) formed after World War II, is a division devoted to the food retail equipment market.
The company operates in over 20 countries across North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.[2]
Manitowoc’s longevity is due in large part to numerous expansions and acquisitions. Despite relative success, the company has experienced financial hardships, partly as a result of the cyclical nature of the industries in which it operates.[3] To offset the effects of this, the company also relies on revenue earned by after-market repair and maintenance, branded as Crane CARE.
[edit] Manitowoc Crane Group
[edit] In the Americas
The Manitowoc crane group’s manufacturing facilities span more than 20 countries, but two of its largest plants are in the U.S.—in Wisconsin, where crawler crane and tower crane parts are produced at the Manitowoc plant, and in Pennsylvania, where mobile cranes and boom trucks are built at the Shady Grove plant.
The crane group has a comprehensive dealer network in the U.S. and Canada, as well as regional offices in Mexico and Brazil.
[edit] Operations in EMEA and Asia Pacific
The Manitowoc Crane Group also conducts business in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, collectively known as EMEA. This region, headquartered in Ecully, France, benefits from the support of local dealers with extensive market knowledge specific to their region. Additional manufacturing plants and regional offices can be found in locations such as France, Germany, Italy, and Portugal.
The company has long-standing relationships with some of Asia Pacific’s largest construction equipment dealers and major crane-owning companies because of its development of “deep roots” in the region.[4] The company recently opened a wholly-owned manufacturing plant in Zahngjiagang, China. Additionally, multiple new sales and services offices have since been established.
[edit] History
[edit] The Beginning of Manitowoc Dry Dock Co.
Though shipbuilding no longer exists as a division under the Manitowoc name, the company owes its roots to precisely that industry. In 1902, Charles C. West and Elias Gunnell, two former employees of Chicago Ship Building Co. in Illinois, decided to purchase their own shipyard. West’s background was in naval architecture and marine engineering, and Gunnell’s, in shipbuilding, design, and mechanics.
The partners ultimately wanted to construct steel ships, rather than the wooden models that were common at the time. With financial stability in mind, however, they purchased a shipyard that was equipped to repair wooden ships, which they would later outfit with equipment for steel shipbuilding. The Burger and Burger shipyard was located on the shores of Lake Michigan in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. West and Gunnell bought it for $110,000 in 1902 and named it Manitowoc Dry Dock Co. Gunnell would take on the role of president while West would take on the duties of general manager.
The following year, the partners won a contract for their first steel ship repair job, and by 1905, they had launched their first steel vessel, a passenger steamer called the Maywood.[5]
[edit] Early Growth
In 1904, Gunnell, West, and Manitowoc secretary and treasurer L.E. Geer, established a tool company separate from Manitowoc for the manufacture of marine engines and other ship-related machinery. A year later, Manitowoc Dry Dock Co. purchased the company and incorporated it into its shipbuilding business.
Expansions continued in 1908 when the dry dock company purchased Manitowoc Steam Boiler Works, a manufacturer of products such as marine boilers, furnaces, buoys, and tanks. This acquisition in conjunction with that of the tool company, provided Manitowoc Dry Dock Co. with the ability not only to build steel vessels, but to fully equip them, allowing the company to offer a complete product, ready for service.
During this period, the company underwent two name changes: in 1910, it was renamed Manitowoc Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.; in 1916, the company became Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co.[6]
[edit] Wartime Operations
Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. was launched into a period of significant growth a result of World War I. With the U.S. Congress’ declaration of war against Germany in April 1917 came its decision to subsume Manitowoc’s operations under the authority of the U.S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corp. The board promptly presented Manitowoc with a contract to build 3,500-ton freighters for the war effort. The company’s facilities were expanded considerably in order to fulfill the request.
This period was a particularly demanding time for West, as he was recruited by the U.S. Navy Bureau of Construction to supervise Ford Motor Co.’s shipbuilding plant in River Rouge, Michigan. As a result, he was forced to regularly commute between Detroit and Manitowoc for more than 18 months.
By the time the war had ended, Manitowoc had built 33 freighters, each weighing 3,500 tons, and was now capable of building 18 ships per year—three times its annual pre-war average.[7]
[edit] Post-War Restructuring
With the end of World War I and the onset of the postwar depression, the U.S. government canceled of all Manitowoc’s remaining freighter contracts. The company now had a much larger capacity and many more employees than it had prior to the war, and West and Gunnell knew they had to restructure to regain profitability. They made the decision to convert the company’s shipbuilding plant into a repair and maintenance shop for locomotives. Though this endeavor kept the company afloat, it became clear that a major transformation would be needed in order to turn a profit.
In 1920 it became apparent that West and Gunnell had differing visions of the company’s future. West believed success would be achieved with diversification, while Gunnell wanted to focus on shipbuilding. This disagreement resulted in the decision to sell the company. Incidentally, the only purchase offer was made by West. With L.E. Geer, he bought the company for $410,000 and renamed it Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co.[8] Immediately after the purchase, West and Geer began to emphasize a diversification policy—this included the expansion of the boiler works division, as well as new machine shop products.
[edit] Business in the ‘20s
Soon, marine boilers began to lose popularity and continued diversification was seen as the remedy to the company’s profitability concerns. The boiler works were diversified into the manufacture of paper mill equipment, coal, rock, and clay dryers, brewery tanks, air nozzles, and heating boilers.
In 1925, West and Geer began to manufacture Moore Speedcranes, patented by Roy and Charles Moore, in their machine shop. Three years later, Manitowoc completely took over the manufacture and sale of all cranes produced by Roy and Charles Moore Crane Co.
The 1920s were relatively profitable for Manitowoc’s shipbuilding sector. During this time, the company built its first self-unloading vessel, two carferries, five tugboats, four deck barges, two dipper dredges, two dump scows, two derrick scows, a floating dry dock, and the world’s largest suction dredge.[9]
[edit] Effects of the Great Depression
The Great Depression’s damaging effects became evident to Manitowoc in the first half of the 1930s. In 1931 the company posted sales of $4 million; two years later, profits were less than $500,000.[10] The firm operated at a net loss four years in a row; salary reductions and lay-offs became necessary.
The shipbuilding division was greatly affected by the Depression, and the decision was made to focus the company’s operations more on cranes, which were now produced under the Manitowoc brand.
With new emphasis on the crane division, Manitowoc improved the Speedcrane and also began offering crane maintenance and repair services. The cranes soon developed a favorable reputation, and were purchased for use in the construction of the Senate Office Building, National Gallery of Art, National Archives, and the Jefferson Memorial, all in Washington, D.C.
[edit] World War II
With another war on the horizon, Manitowoc was hired by the U.S. Navy in 1940 to build 10 submarines. In order to facilitate this, the Navy granted Manitowoc the funds necessary to improve and expand the manufacturing plant.
In December 1941, a week after the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Navy, the U.S. Navy placed an order with Manitowoc for six cranes to salvage the harbor.
Manitowoc continued to receive crane orders for the duration of World War II. During this period, the company manufactured more than 58 cranes for the Navy’s floating dry docks, and 79 cranes and shovels for the U.S. Army. Additionally, the company built 28 submarines for the U.S. Navy and received a Navy “E” on five separate occasions for excellence in production.[11]
[edit] Reorganization after World War II
As Manitowoc’s post-war business could no longer rely on war efforts, it needed once again to be restructured to serve the new economy. This began with the U.S. Navy’s reimbursement of costs Manitowoc incurred during the war, as well as their help to dismantle their portion of the shipbuilding operations.
West led the company down another path of diversification, delving this time into the production of dry cleaning units and freezers for Firestone and Westinghouse. Soon after, the company began manufacturing frozen food cabinets for markets and restaurants; by 1950, more than half of the operations of Manitowoc’s equipment works, were dedicated to this.[12]
In 1952, further reorganization took place when Manitowoc changed its name to The Manitowoc Co. Inc. and two principal units were turned into subsidiaries: Manitowoc Shipbuilding Inc. and Manitowoc Engineering Corp. (under which the cranes were built). Following this, Manitowoc Equipment Works officially became a division.
[edit] Post-recession Growth
Manitowoc’s shipbuilding operations were plagued with union strikes in the late 1940s. However, the company regained a competitive edge in the Great Lakes region as a shipbuilder and repair facility following the end of the post-war recession.
Beginning in the early 1950s, the company delved further into the construction of various marine vessels, including a prototype of Nautilus, the first nuclear submarine in the U.S., the largest self-unloader on the Great Lakes, a coal hauler, the first diesel-powered carferry, and five crane barges.[13]
Following West’s death in 1957, his son, John D. West, became president of Manitowoc. Under his leadership, the company continued to grow into the 1960s, due to the increased production of dry cleaning units, freezers, and food cabinets, and the introduction of Manitowoc ice dispensers in 1966.
Manitowoc’s shipbuilding operations underwent another change in 1968 when the company decided to purchase the assets of Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. The amalgamation of Manitowoc’s existing shipbuilding division—focused mainly on smaller vessels—and Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding was named The Bay Shipbuilding Corp. The new enterprise was located in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. With the new resources Manitowoc acquired with the purchase, the company won some major contracts in the 1970s. Among these was an order from Detroit Edison for the first 1,000-foot ship, built to haul coal.[14]
[edit] Shifting Focus
In 1971, Manitowoc was listed on NASDAQ through an initial public offering. Around this time, the company divested its dry cleaning business and sold its freezer and frozen foods operations. The company’s focus shifted once again to its custom-built cranes, which had become its most lucrative offering following World War II. Developments such as extendible crawlers and the ringer, an assembly that doubled the lift capacity of a basic crane, had significantly increased the demand for Manitowoc cranes. By 1977, crane revenue totaled approximately $146.5 million, in contrast to the shipbuilding operations, accounting for $73 million, and ice cube maker sales, totaling $14.4 million.[15]
In the late 1970s Manitowoc built a new manufacturing plant for Manitowoc Engineering and Manitowoc Equipment Works southwest of downtown Manitowoc, at a cost of $35 million.[16]
[edit] Financial Hardships in the ‘80s
While John West remained CEO through 1986 and was chairman through most of the 1980s, the company’s leadership was taken on by Ralph Helm, who was president and COO from 1981 to 1986, then president and CEO from 1986 to 1990. Helm had worked at the Manitowoc Engineering crane subsidiary—where he helped increase sales by more than $125 million from 1962 to 1980[17]—for more than two decades before taking on these new roles.
Despite Manitowoc’s new leadership, the company was not exempt from the recession of the early ‘80s. As a result of the end of the petroleum boom, Manitowoc crane sales began to drop dramatically—large lift cranes that had been used in construction and offshore oil were no longer needed. In addition, the shipbuilding operations at Sturgeon Bay were temporarily abandoned.
[edit] Late ‘80s Recovery
The company began to experience small improvements by the end of the decade. Crane operations began to recover due to the resumption of offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The majority of Manitowoc’s competitors had either sold their holdings or gone out of business, so competition was scarce. During this period, however, the company’s ice machines were becoming more profitable than its cranes.
[edit] Butler's Growth Strategy
In 1990 Fred Butler was named president and CEO. Butler, who had only joined the Manitowoc two years earlier, was able to scrutinize the company’s operations with an objective eye and provide a more modern operating viewpoint.
Butler’s focus was on cost-cutting and reorganization, as well as improved marketing strategies to augment the company’s presence in the U.S. as well as Europe. Butler also implemented the modernization of Manitowoc’s large crane and boom-truck plants, which led to an increase in production. The company also designed new cranes such as the model 888 with a 220-ton lift capacity, which was immediately well-received in the marketplace.[18]
While crane production began to boom once again, building operations at Bay Shipbuilding Corp. were scaled back. Ship repair operations were expanded, however, leading to the establishment of two additional locations in Toledo and Cleveland.
Butler’s next move was to expand Manitowoc into the Asia-Pacific region. In 1994, he entered a joint venture to build ice machines with Hangzhou Household Electric Appliance Industrial Corp. Hangzhou was located approximately 100 miles (161 km) southwest of Shanghai.
Through a series of acquisitions, the first occurring in November 1995 with the $126 million purchase of The Shannon Group Inc., a major manufacturer of refrigeration equipment, Manitowoc soon became the world’s largest supplier of commercial ice machines and walk-in refrigerators. More than half the company’s revenue began coming from foodservice equipment. The crane division now accounted for 39 percent of Manitowoc’s sales, and shipbuilding and repairs, only seven percent.[19]
1996 was a significant year for the company, as its sales passed the half-billion dollar mark. The same year, The Bay Shipbuilding Corp. built the Integrity, a 460-foot integrated tug/barge. This was the first new ship Manitowoc had built since 1982.[20]
The following year, subsidiary Manitowoc Equipment Works changed its name to Manitowoc Ice Inc., to more aptly reflect its specialization. The subsidiary then purchased SerVand International Inc., the third largest manufacturer of ice and beverage dispensers in the U.S. at the time.[21]
[edit] Major Expansion under New Leadership
In 1998, Terry D. Growcock, previously the head of Manitowoc’s foodservice group, became Manitowoc’s president and CEO. Under his leadership, the company’s revenue began to increase; by 2002, Manitowoc had almost tripled its 1997 revenue. The $1.41 billion in sales was due in large part to multiple acquisitions in multiple markets.[22]
Many of the acquisitions were taking place in the foodservice realm as a means of expanding the company’s presence overseas. These included the acquisition of a 50 percent interest in an Italian ice machine company; a license agreement with Indian company Blue Star to manufacture Kolpak walk-in refrigerators to be sold in the Middle East and Asia; and the full purchase of Manitowoc’s Chinese joint venture in 2000. As well, the company purchased Harford Duracool LLC, a walk-in refrigerator and freezer manufacturer in the eastern U.S.
The last years of the 20th century were also a time of expansion for the crane division. In November 1998, Manitowoc purchased U.S. Truck Crane Inc. (USTC), a manufacturer of boom trucks, rough terrain forklifts, and other material handlers, for $51.5 million. Two years later, Manitowoc acquired boom truck manufacturer Pioneer Holdings LLC. Manitowoc then consolidated all the acquired boom truck lines to form Manitowoc Boom Trucks. This was the same year Manitowoc unveiled its most popular crane to date, the 999 lattice-boom crane, with a lifting capacity of 275 tons. In the crane’s first seven months on the market, 80 units were sold.[23]
In November 2000, Manitowoc’s marine group purchased the Marinette Marine Corp. of Marinette, Wisconsin for $66.7 million, resulting in the group’s revenue nearly tripling. With this acquisition, the company was now responsible for the operation of more than 60 percent of the U.S. dry docks on the Great Lakes.[24]
One of the two largest purchases in Manitowoc’s history occurred in May 2001 when the company acquired Potain S.A. (later renamed Potain SAS), located in France. The company was a major presence in the tower crane and construction industries. With eight manufacturing plants in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and China, and a distribution network spanning more than 50 countries, the company’s annual sales totaled approximately $300 million. Manitowoc paid $307 million in cash and assumed $138.8 million in debt in the takeover. The move proved beneficial as Manitowoc’s sales surpassed $1 billion in 2001.[25]
The other purchase took place in 2002 when Manitowoc paid approximately $278 million for Grove Worldwide, a key manufacturer of mobile telescopic cranes that had just emerged from bankruptcy. Located in Shady Grove, Pennsylvania, Grove also had manufacturing facilities in Germany and France. Grove also owned National Crane Corp., a company that manufactured boom trucks in competition with Manitowoc’s. In order for the purchase of Grove to be approved, the U.S. Department of Justice stated that Manitowoc was obligated to sell one of the two boom truck manufacturers. So, in 2003, the company sold Manitowoc boom trucks to Quantum Heavy Equipment LLC.
The purchase of Potain and Grove significantly increased Manitowoc’s presence in Europe. Sales outside North America, which had accounted for less than six percent of the company’s revenue in 2000, had jumped to more than 21 percent in 2002.[26]
[edit] Financial Downturn, Recovery, and Divestment
The company experienced a $20.5 million net loss in 2002, due to $74 million in expenses for the restructuring of certain operations in the foodservice and crane operations. Manitowoc also struggled during this period due to the combination of a declining global economy and the company’s reliance on its greatly expanded crane business, which was cyclical in nature. At the time, Manitowoc conceded that sales were not likely to recover for another couple of years.[27]
In 2007 crane production and service were responsible for 81 percent of Manitowoc’s $4 billion in sales and 84 percent of its operating earnings.[28] That year, the crane group released 12 dozen new products, with plans to release 30 more in the near future.[29]
On January 1, 2009, Manitowoc sold its once-integral marine group, comprising Marinette Marine, Bay Shipbuilding, ACE Marine, and Cleveland Shiprepair, to Fincantieri Marine Group (FMG). The Italian company is a subsidiary of Fincantieri-Cantiere Navali Italiani S.p.A.[30]
[edit] The Company Today
As a result of the purchase of its marine group in January 2009, Manitowoc now focuses on two principal markets: material handling and foodservice.
Manitowoc currently employs more than 7,800 employees. Its net sales in 2008 totaled US$4.5 billion.[31]
Manitowoc Co. has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 1993 under the symbol MTW.
[edit] Equipment List
- All terrain crane
- Boom lift
- Boom truck
- City crane
- Crawler crane
- Hydraulic truck crane
- Mobile telescopic crane
- Rough terrain crane
- Scissor lift
- Tower crane
[edit] References
- ↑ About Us. Official Manitowoc website. 01-29-09.
- ↑ Our Company. Official Manitowoc website. 01-29-09.
- ↑ Manitowoc Business Overview. Official Wikinvest website. 01-29-09
- ↑ About Us. Official Manitowoc website. 01-29-09.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Company History. Funding Universe. 2009-01-29.
- ↑ Manitowoc Official Wikinvest website. 01-29-09.
- ↑ Our Company. Official Manitowoc website. 01-29-09.
- ↑ Ficantieri Marine Group Official Ficantieri website. 01-29-09.
- ↑ Investor Relations. Official Manitowoc website. 01-29-09.
