Aerial equipment manufacturers continue to innovate in new machine designs and safety initiatives as well in cost containment and green building and operating practices. RER interviewed several of the leading aerial equipment providers to find out how component cost increases, the slowdown in construction and the growing trend toward green building are impacting their sales and engineering efforts.

Participants:

Linda Mayer, vice president and general manager, global marketing and product management, Terex Aerial Work Platforms, Redmond, Wash.

Kirsten Skyba, vice president of global marketing, JLG Industries, McConnellsburg, Pa.

Christophe Debatisse, chief financial officer, Haulotte US, L’Horme, France

Brent Hagedorn, director, marketing and national accounts, Bil-Jax Inc., Archbold, Ohio

RER: All equipment manufacturers are being hit with major cost increases, including steel, tires, components, copper and more. How are you handling these higher costs and are they affecting any of your design/engineering decisions?

Mayer: Like other manufacturers, we are facing unprecedented raw material and commodity cost increase pressures. Impacts are coming from the rising cost of oil, which affects transportation costs (inbound freight and global shipping costs), and dramatically higher costs for steel, fabrications and hydraulics.

These increases are real and we are working hard to mitigate them as much as possible. We are examining all aspects of our business, including cost containment, cost avoidance, improved productivity, and the way we staff and support the organization. Continuous improvement is a part of our culture. Cost reduction efforts will not compromise our design integrity although we naturally prioritize our resources on those projects that are the most impactful in the market. Additionally, we have announced a price increase effective Sept. 1.

Skyba: Certainly that’s a concern for us. We’ve seen steel go up by close to 100 percent in the past few months. Copper and aluminum have increased as well. We’re all in tune daily with what’s happening with oil. What I can tell you is that, with our type of equipment, it’s not as though you would see a migration from one type of material to another. Because if you think about the idea of trading off steel for aluminum, aluminum is almost as effective as steel is, or if you think about trading off a steel engine cover for a plastic one, well, plastics are petroleum based so you’re seeing a cost increase there as well. So we really haven’t done a lot in that respect in terms of our engineering.