Rental: How do you see this year shaping up for the aerial market?
Brad Boehler, president of Skyack: 2017 is going to be a very good year for the aerial industry. Based on our order book, our backlog, and the last few weeks, with the Rental Show and Conexpo, I think it's phenomenal.
I would say that with the exception of maybe Brazil and western Canada, everything else in the world seems to be moving in the right direction. Everything’s positive and and everybody wants to buy equipment.
Rental: What do you think is behind the positivity?
Boehler: If you look at the US, you could say it’s part of the Trump effect. Everybody’s pretty optimistic about that. If you look into Europe, they’ve been stuck in the after effects of the global recession they never really clawed out of, but now they’re believing that good things can happen. And of course, various parts of Asia, the access business and rental business are just growing anyway. It seems like everybody wants equipment right now.
Rental: You mentioned the Trump effect. Is it just speculation or is there a solid reason to believe things will change for the better?
Boehler: I think it's a little of both. If you look at what Trump campaigned on, some of the things he said he would do economically around infrastructure and American manufacturing bode well. I don’t know if any of that’s real yet, but I think people believe it can be real, and so, to a certain extent it is real. Markets are reacting and that just gives it another injection of realism. When manufacturers come out and have a pessimistic view, it drives pessimism in the market too. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Markets taking a favorable response to this kind of drives optimism everywhere. And I'd much rather see the positive aspect become fulfilled than the pessimistic.
Rental: What other factors are playing a role in the industry's growth?
Boehler: The replacement cycle is kind of flushing its way through, and overall, there are great economic conditions in the US right now. There are a lot of building projects underway, lots of positivity about more big projects coming in the future. Beyond that, rental penetration is increasing. Those are the things driving our business above and beyond the replacement cycle.
Rental: Skyjack has introduced a lot of products over the past couple of years. What’s next?
Boehler: Our growth plan that’s been very successful for 5-10 years has centered around introducing new products and entering into new markets. In no particular order we’ll see a 20-ft. vertical mast lift; a 125- or 35-foot boom lift; a smaller, 5,000-lb. telehandler; an electric 40/45-foot boom; and we're working on a variety of other projects such as converting everything to the new ANSI standards, revamping our rough-terrain scissor line... that’s enough for the next three to five years.
Rental: What do you think about the arrival of JCB as a new competitor in the aerial space?
Boehler: JCB is a reputable, formidable company with a lot of capital. But do they know anything about the access industry? Not really. When they’ve got a dealership on every corner in North America like they do in the UK, we might have some difficulties. There could be some interesting competition there. But their reputation in North America is less solid from a support standpoint. Just walking into the market doesn’t guarantee their success.
