18.05.2007

Mantis secures North American distributor

Mantis Cranes, the Donegal crane manufacturer and supplier, has secured a deal with US company Celtic Self Erecting Cranes Inc - owned by concrete contractors Smith Bros - to distribute its Mantis self erecting cranes in North America. The first cranes left the Mantis Cranes factory this week for the US.

Situated in New York state, Smith Bros is an innovative company and sees an opportunity in this equipment.
Van Smith, ceo of Smith Bros said, “Having conducted some research into various crane manufacturers throughout Europe we made the decision to do business with Mantis. We visited the company’s manufacturing facilities and head office and liked what we saw. We felt it was a tightly run organisation, which focused on the customer and all-round quality. We are looking forward to a long and prosperous working relationship with Mantis."


Mantis Cranes, set up in 1999, introduced the self erecting crane to Ireland and is the only manufacturer of self erecting cranes outside mainland Europe. Manufacturing is in Killygordon where there are 42 people employed. The company has been growing at a steady pace for the past few years and was a finalist in the 2006 Ernst and young Entrepreneur of the Year awards.
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Seamus McMenamin with father and son Brian and Larry Smith

The latest crane to be launched by the company, the TC 25, was designed and built at the company’s manufacturing facilities.


Seamus McMenamin, chief executive of Mantis Cranes, said: “This is positive progress for our company and we are pleased to be doing business with Smith Bros. Mantis has been expanding into new markets and to secure the American market is a real break through. Adapting our cranes to US Market specification took a lot of work but the end result is great motivation for myself and the Mantis Crane team."