The Manitowoc Co., Manitowoc, Wis., last month announced that Manitowoc Crane Group presented plans to restructure its Manlift aerial work platform businesses, which will be exclusively focused on vertical mast products.

According to statements by Manitowoc's director of investor relations Steven Khail in The Waynesboro Record Herald, since the Manlift production is a small part of Grove's production, the suspended operations will have little impact on Grove Worldwide. Production of all-terrain, rough terrain, truck-mounted and industrial cranes by Grove workers at the Shady Grove facility will continue. However, the apparent exit of Grove, one of the pioneers of the aerial work platform industry, will impact that market, which has seen considerable consolidation in recent years.

The revised Manlift division would feature the Toucan vertical masts manufactured in France. Specifically, the restructuring plan includes the following actions:

• Discontinue the scissor-lift and boom-lift product segments, and close the Liftlux facility in Dillingen, Germany.

• Discontinue U.S. manlift production at the Shady Grove, Pa. facility.

• Develop the remaining Toucan vertical mast segment and market its products under the Manlift brand and the Toucan product name in Europe.

• Continue to provide dedicated aftermarket parts and service support for the discontinued product lines through Manitowoc Crane-CARE. The restructuring also includes reorganization of the spare parts and product support activities of AWP, which would result in closing the Manlift product support facility in Kronau, Germany and transferring these responsibilities to Manitowoc CraneCARE operations in North America and Europe. This would ensure that its entire installed base of AWP equipment is strongly supported with comprehensive parts and service programs, the company said.

The Liftlux and U.S. Manlift anticipated combined loss from operations of approximately $4.5 million will be reported as a loss from discontinued operations for the year ended 2003.

The company's guidance for 2003 earnings per share before special items remains at 70 to 75 cents. Special charges will increase from the 50 cents per share in prior guidance to a range of 65 to 70 cents per share.

Manitowoc Crane Group also recently announced an agreement with Kobelco Construction Machinery Co., Tokyo, under which Kobelco will supply Manitowoc with a range of lattice-boom crawler cranes with lift capacities under 150 tons. These Manitowoc-branded products will be introduced in the second quarter of 2004.

The lattice-boom cranes supplied to Manitowoc by Kobelco will be differentiated from Kobelco's own product offering. All new models will be sold and supported through Manitowoc's existing dealer and product support networks. Manitowoc has not yet issued the model designations for the new cranes.

Kobelco will continue to market and distribute its own crawler cranes, from 55 U.S. tons to 250 U.S. tons, and will support its products under its current distribution system in the Americas.