21.06.2012

Winter moves to Ainscough

Andrew Winter, currently general manager of Tadano distributor Cranes UK, is moving to Ainscough Heavy Cranes.

Winter, 51, joined UK Cranes in June 2010 following the closure of his own crane rental business Winterlift. The move was part of a change to both expand the business and allow managing director and major shareholder Joe Lyon to spend more time in South Africa.
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Andrew Winter

The appointment has worked well and the two parties are parting on amicable terms, Winter said: “I have been very happy during my time at Cranes UK and was not looking for a move, but then I was approached by Ainscough for what is an excellent opportunity which works both on a personal and a business front. I will be sad to leave but at the same time excited with the opportunities in my new role.”

Lyon also said that he was sorry to be losing Winter, but understood his reasoning. He has appointed an industry outside Bob Rowland, a highly experienced general manager, who originally worked in the fire service, as an interim general manager until the end of December, by which time he hopes to have recruited a replacement.
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Bob Rowland

In his new role Winter will be general manager of Ainscough Heavy Cranes, a new role that brings together all of the operations and commercial aspects of the heavy crane business that the company is keen to expand. He will report to board member Gareth Jones.

At the same Ainscough is making several other appointments, Steve Wathen commercial director of Heavy Cranes moves to the same role at the group’s wind energy services company, Ivan Ellis takes over as head of Heavy Cranes sales.

Richard Heptinstall who managed operations has left the company with his role being taken up by the promotion of Peter Mills. In addition the company says that it has added staff with experience in CAD/job planning, transport operations and commercial support to step up its service in these areas.

The company has also ordered two of the new 750 tonne Liebherr LTM11750-9.1 All Terrain cranes.

See Andrew Winter joins Cranes UK

Vertikal Comment

Andrew Winter will certainly be a loss to Cranes UK, he had made the jump from the rental industry to distribution – totally different areas of expertise - far better than anyone would have expected, just as he did adapting from business owner back to employee – not an easy transition in itself, but that also speaks volumes of Joe Lyon’s management style and skill.

Cranes UK has a good team in place and with an interim manager on board it has the time to choose a successor with care.

Ainscough gains a highly experienced crane man who knows how to span the commercial, operational and business roles. It is no secret that the move into more heavy cranes - including big lattice machines has not gone as well as Ainscough might have hoped. The changes it has made suggest that it is very serious about expanding this side of the business.