INTERVIEW
11
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2013
access
INTERNATIONAL
making it to the facility.”
Skyjack didn’t want to necessarily have to
air freight items in at a regular basis, which
would cost money (lots of it) and can take
an extremely long time. But it also needed
to be realistic as to what parts typically need
replacing, so it aims to meet its customers’
goals without having stale inventory sitting
around without use.
“We have accepted and we’re willing in some
instances to air freight parts in because at some
point, you’re always going to get an infrequent
or ‘out of the blue’ request for a broken
component,”Mr Boehler says, “but instead of
having a $10,000 axle sitting in Brazil waiting
or something that might never happen, we’ll
air freight it in.The only issue with air freight,
though, is the red tape. If we needed to send
a large part to a customer in North America,
we’d use UPS and it’d be there the next day
and everyone would be happy. We just have to
continue to work on these things.”
The company enlisted its worldwide parts
division to analyse parts’ history. For instance,
the team looked at wheel motors and how
many Skyjack sells a year. “There’s no reason
for us to think that for Brazil, there would be
any difference in need than in North America,
Europe or wherever else,”Mr Boehler says.
“The demand should be relatively similar in all
markets. In general, on part x, you should need
x number on the shelf and that should be able
to take you through our supply chain in order
to refill your demand.”
Product development
With all the regional and world growth
developments, Skyjack has put some of its
product progress on hold.The company
exceeded its goal for units sales of the new
63-foot SJ 63AJ boom, but despite this, the
company is in no rush to flesh-out its boo line.
“This is going to take longer than I wanted
it to,”Mr Boehler says of expanding its boom
product line. “We’ve done a lot of refreshing
of the boom product that we had produced
previously and as we get more experienced
in the boom product, we’ve found things we
could do better.”
The company is developing its fifth boom
product and implementing changes into its
current offering. But Boehler says customers
can expect – in the future – a new 80-foot
telescopic boom and a 30-foot articulating
boom, just not before Tier 4 changes are
fulfilled and company resources (workforce and
manufacturing space) are expanded.
Future plans
With so many projects and plans ahead,
Skyjack’s parent company, Linamar, stands by
it. “They are absolutely a committed owner,”
Boehler says. “We’re an integral part of their
business.”
When asked if Skyjack were ever to be on
the selling block, Mr Boehler says everything
in negotiable.
“If somebody were to come by and say, ‘Hey,
here’s a bank-full of money for Skjyack,’ there
is always that potential,” he says. “You can’t
ever say ‘Nothing’s for sale,’ but there’s no
desire on Linamar’s side to sell us. We’re going
to grow quite aggressively over the next five to
seven years so we fit in well with them.”
AI
base that we’re already in,”Mr Boehler says.
“In Europe and the UK, it’s the same thing
– there’s potential for us to do even more
there, we just have to focus our efforts on
getting more people involved, building on
our reputation and convincing people that
when they have our product in their fleet, it’s
price competitive to start with, but it’s very
advantageous. It doesn’t cost you as much
money to operate and it lasts a long time.”
South America
In September, Skyjack celebrated the first
year in operation of its parts and service
centre in Indaiatuba, Sao Paulo, Brazil.The
company says its centre benefitted customers
by eliminating traditionally long lead times
associated with getting product into the
country. Skyjack also assembled a team with
extensive market experience to provide the best
service to its customers.
“Our market share of scissors is very
significant in Brazil,”Mr Boehler says.
But, like most companies’ experience, it can
be difficult to get parts into Brazil due to red
tape and government regulations. Mr Boehler
explains that dotting all the I’s and crossing all
the T’s is one of the most important factors at
not getting stopped in customs.
“We must be detail-oriented on getting
things into the country properly because from
what I can tell is that once you get flagged,
you’re out to lunch,” he says. “But you also have
to have a good flow-through of parts that are
Skyjack has opened two sales and service
centres in Scandinavia and Germany. The
Scandinavian facility (pictured) is situated in
Agnesberg near Gothenburganada.
A Skyjack SJ111 3219 scissor carries out
maintenance work
