PROFILE
return on investment (ROI) and take time
to analyse this,” he points out. “While
there was a boom happening in 2006/2007,
everyone was growing and while they just
needed another forklift truck, they didn’t
take time to analyse what brand they
would settle for. People now, however, are
analysing what we do, and that thinking
has grown our business,” he adds.
Looking ahead
As its name implies, the Straddler straddles the load, lifting
it between the two ‘legs’, not requiring a counterbalance.
Straddlers to lift heavy fabricated sections,
while other companies use the Straddlers
to lift sections of concrete or steel bridges
— anything that is heavy and bulky, as the
system is effective for manoeuvring
such elements.
McVicar points out that even though
Combilift manufactures a range of
products, they are for the industrial market
and not heavy-terrain sector, designed for
industrial use or around a manufacturing
plant, and fitted with rubber tyres to
operate both indoors and outdoors. Only
one exception is the Combilift Combi-
RT, which is designed for the agricultural
sector, namely poultry, where its purpose
is to transport chicken containers, and for
rough-terrain applications.
“When we look at all our products,
we don’t see ourselves as a forklift
producer or a Straddler producer, but
rather as a solutions provider, focusing
mainly on warehouse design and space
optimisation,” the executive stresses.
Challenges in SA market
“Combilift exports to 85 countries
worldwide, so we have a variety of market
challenges — and opportunities,” he
assures. According to McVicar, in South
Africa, one of the biggest challenges is
the volatility of the currency against the
euro. “It’s not that it’s a direct challenge
for us, but it’s a direct challenge for our
customers as to when they invest in their
equipment. Customers are cautious when
the South African rand is weak, making it
difficult for us to find a solution,” he says.
McVicar says that the company
conducts a lot of business in the BRICS
countries and adds, “Of all the markets in
which we do business, South Africa is one
of the more open markets of the BRICS
countries. The other BRICS countries
have more protectionism with things like
high import tariffs. While South Africa
also has import tariffs, compared to the
other BRICS countries, it’s very open
to importing products from companies
such as ourselves. Another thing we
have found about South Africa, is that it is
manufacturing focused, which is great for
Combilift, as companies need to handle
space and their product range more safely.”
He comments with obvious
enthusiasm: “What I really like about
South African companies is that they
maximise the use of their equipment!
A South African company will not buy a
piece of equipment unless they are going
to get full utilisation. Our first customer
in South Africa was Columbus Stainless
Steel. (In 2002, the stainless steel and
the chrome operations were split into
two different entities and were then sold
to different companies: Samncor (t/a
Middelburg Ferrochrome) bought the
chrome operations, and Acerinox (76%)
and IDC (24%) bought the stainless steel
business. Ed)
He continues: “If you take a forklift
truck, depending on the needs of the
customer, as a rough estimate, the
average number of lifetime hours is about
20 000 hours. But I know for a fact, as I
have been to Columbus Steel in South
Africa, they have Combilift forklift trucks
that have more than 30 000 hours on the
clock and they’re still running them,” he
comments with a degree of admiration.
The MD says that conversely, the
downturn really strengthened Combilift’s
business, “not just in South Africa, but
companies in general want to maximise
Presently, Combilift’s turnover is EUR250-
million and more than doubled its business
in the past five years. McVicar continues:
“Our strategy and plan is to double over
the next five years, and our long-term plan
is to become a billion-euro company in this
manufacturing plant. Our strategy is to
grow organically and not to grow by the
traditional manner of acquisition. We
intend to continually invest in our research
and development, add new products
to our portfolio, focus on additional
niche markets, and organically grow
our business.”
The executive explains that Combilift
focuses strongly on R&D, investing 7% of
revenue into this activity, which is key to
its success, he maintains. “We are very
much customer facing; we’re listening to
our customers, asking for their feedback,
understanding the challenges they face
and the problems they have, which gives
us the opportunity to develop products
to solve their material handling issues
— which is a solution for growth in
our business.”
He highlights that even though the
company has been successful i