Commitment to support Grove in the UK
25 April 2008
Manitowoc Crane Care is working to ensure that its customers experience no disruption in service, following the trading difficulties announced by UK Grove service representative, Samuel Walker & Sons Ltd.
Steve Barnett, managing director sales and operations at Manitowoc Crane Group in the UK, said, “We have a duty of care to our customers, and I expect us to fulfil that duty.” Thibaut Le Besnerais, vice president Manitowoc Crane Care EMEA, added, “We have reacted swiftly to this situation and I'm completely confident our customers will notice no difference in the supply of parts and service for their Grove cranes. We have resources and systems in place to ensure our high level of customer service continues on an on-going basis.”
An MCG statement said Crane Care has acquired additional operational resources for Grove spare parts and service, which will be coordinated from the Sunderland MCG facility in the north east of England. Thibaut Le Besnerais explained in detail on 15 February the provisions made: “We have hand picked and directly employed eight of Walker's most experienced Grove GMK product trained technicians, we have managed to ensure that there has been no break in the provision of service within the UK and Irish markets throughout the liquidation process. This extends to even keeping continuation of ongoing jobs without any consequences to the customer.
“Operating under direction from our existing administrative facility in Sunderland these technicians (seven are now working exclusively on Grove product and one is covering Potain, Top Tracing, etc.) will ensure provision of service for both warranty work on the UK GMK park and, in addition, for commercial work.
“Parts sales will be handled direct from our Sunderland facility where retained staff have extensive knowledge and experience of the product. We have also acquired the services of the Sam Walker spare parts manager.”