Material lift sector gets Smart new player

Steve Citron, a name well known in the rental industry from his days with Terex/Genie, Haulotte/Bil-jax and MEC Aerial Platforms, is starting afresh with his own new company making material lifts.

His business, LiftSmart, based in Oceanside, California - and with wife Kristi as marketing manager and ex-Genie colleague Mark Mattson as director of engineering - is producing three material lifts that will compete with machines supplied by Genie, Bocker and Sumner, among others.

Mr Citron says the big selling point of his hoists are the use of robust, North American sourced components, including wholly US-built casters and hand winches made in Nebraska. "Believe it or not the US still builds castors", says Mr Citron.

He says he will be offering a two-year structural warranty, five year warranty on the winches and three years on the castors. "Out of warranty costs can add up pretty quickly", he says.

In addition to more robust components, he says the lifts - with 12, 18 and 24 ft lifting heights - have been designed to be easy to use and handle. For example, the two speed hoist will lift at twice the speed of its competitors at the higher speed, and twice as slow in the slow gear.

Mr Citron says the lifts are in the same price bracket as Genie and Sumner - slightly cheaper than Sumner and a bit more than Genie - and although North America will be the starting place for sales "we're definitely planning to go to Europe."