03.08.2007

Tanfield announces Snorkel-UpRight strategy

With the acquisition of Snorkel now completed Tanfield has wasted no time in announcing its initial ‘go forward’ strategy for the UpRight and Snorkel brands.
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Essentially it is planning to adopt the Snorkel brand for all products in the dollar regions of the world and the UpRight brand in the Euro regions, including Africa and the Middle East.

The products in the range that do not overlap will simply be branded according to where it is sold, with dual source production for all volume products.

Thus TM12’s will in future be marketed in the Americas as the Snorkel M1230, while in Europe they will continue to be built in the UK and sold as the UpRight TM12.
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The UpRight TM12 becomes the Snorkel M1230

Where the product ranges do overlap, such as with 19ft electric scissor lifts, each plant will continue to build its own product and market it under its own brand.

So Snorkel SL19’s will be sold in the Americas, Australasia and Pacific Rim, while the UpRight MX19 will continue to be built and sold in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Eventually such models will be replaced by a new machine which will then be dual sourced and branded according to market.

So what does this all mean?

For the vast majority of buyers nothing much will change apart from the fact that whether you are a Snorkel or an UpRight buyer, your supplier will have a much broader product range.

In Europe the UpRight product line will immediately gain 10 new models, they are:
The X27RT, X33RT (Mid sized RT scissors currently made in New Zealand) and X40RT rough terrain scissor lifts. The AB50JRT, AB60JRT and AB85RJ articulated boom lifts and the SB47JRT, SB66JRT, SB85J and SB126J straight boom lifts with jibs.
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The Snorkel TB66J becomes the UpRight SB66JRT

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The Snorkel AB85J becomes the UpRight AB85JRT

In the USA the few companies that buy UpRight products will now have them delivered as Snorkels. Although UpRight is considering continuing to sell its trailer lift and push around products under the UpRight brand.

This will mean that for a few products, such as mini electric scissor lifts, such as the MX19 buyers will have to agree to a product switch as well as a brand switch.

Snorkel customers will gain eight new models, including UpRight's TM12 as the M1230, the X26N narrow electric scissor as the SR2633 and the Speed Level as the SR26 or30 84SL. It will also benefit from UpRghts boom range with the MB20 and 26 mast booms becoming the Snorkel M2032J and M2639J while the AB38N and AB38W articulated boom lifts keep the same disgnation.

At a later date we might see Snorkel branded versions of the AB46HSRT and possibly the AB46 range?
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The UpRight Speed Level becomes the Snorkel SR3084SL

In Europe Snorkel only has a significant following in a few markets, these include the UK and Ireland, where APS sells a significant volume of electric scissors and has had some notable recent successes with boom lift orders from major rental companies, the Benelux where Heli never stopped selling Snorkel and Germany where the Snorkel name is synonymous with straight booms that are ‘tough as old boot’.

In the latter case Tanfield is banking on the fact that painting the product blue and calling it UpRight will not put these buyers off. The former involves tricky distribution decisions.

Tanfield says that it will need to look at each market on a case by case basis and does not rule out some exceptions to the general strategy.
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The Snorkel SR4084 becomes the UpRight X40RT

Further a field Australia and New Zealand will switch to Snorkel given that it is by far the stronger brand there and where it is also the local manufacturer.

The Pacific Rim is a little more complex, but is also expected to switch over to Snorkel.

Vertikal Comment

This is probably the most practical and logical decision Tanfield could have taken. Ideally it would almost certainly have preferred to have adopted a single brand, but in reality this was never a runner.

In North America re habilitating the UpRight name into the mainstream market was always going to be a long and expensive process, following several years of bad decisions and poor customer service under the previous management/owners. Snorkel’s name doe not have the same negative connotations and the current management has already gone a long way towards becoming a mainstream producer. With its wider product range and new owners it can build on the work that it has done.

In Europe the company will want to take its time in those markets where it now has two strong outlets and not be driven by the dogma ‘that one size must fit all’.

In summary this was never going to be an easy decision, and it looks like it has selected the best option, but now needs to take a pragmatic and open minded approach to implementing it.

If it does we could see 2 + 2 easily equalling 4 or more.
One final thought, isn't it usually bad news that you announce on a Friday afternoon?