Tadano plans

Leading truck crane and truck mounted crane manufacturer Tadano, headquartered in Japan, sees a bright future. The BQ Tadano joint venture already manufactures 4,000 truck cranes a year in China.

Koichi Tadano, Tadano president and CEO, speaking to IC at the Bauma exhibition in Germany earlier in 2007, said, It is an extremely good market in all regions and the good market will continue for the next two to three years.

Delivery time is one year to 18 months, depending on model but “we will try to improve that – three to six months delivery time is the target,” Tadano says. “We are increasing production by about 30% with the construction of a new factory in Tadotsu [Japan].”

Tadano continues, There are three trends: One is that cranes are getting bigger, Second is that all terrains are becoming more popular, and three, there is a revival of the truck crane. “There are two directions at the Tadano Group. One is product strategy in that we are going to widen the range of all terrains, rough terrains and truck cranes. The other is related to geography. Historically Japan is our biggest market. Our mid-term plan is to increase business volume outside Japan, all over the world – the US, Europe, etc.”

Tadano continues, “We want to maximize the value of the Tadano brand and raise our position in each market – raise the profile, improve product support, etc. We are still not number one in Europe, in the US. We want to get closer to the marke. To expand product support by getting more people in Asia-Pacific, we have added in the Middle East, US, etc. Product support will be a differentiating factor in future as will technology. Tadano has a reputation for strong, simple and reliable cranes.”