JLG Industries Inc sold USD92.5 million of telehandlers during the quarter ended January 30, up 32 per cent from last financial year’s second quarter. Company chief financial officer Jim Woodward said the Sky Trak and Lull brands were up 28 per cent and the JLG and Gradall brands up 40 per cent.“Lead times are extended,” Woodward said. “We are actually quoting some telehandler models out into September and we are seeing the same thing from our competitors.”He said some models had sold out of production capacity for the year.Woodward said that, based on demand for JLG’s telehandlers, the company was not anticipating extra orders from customers.“In an upturn with strong demands and strong lead times, there is always the argument that there is some positioning in order boards to get production slots that could disappear as you get closer to those dates … we don’t anticipate that happening,” he said.JLG has struggled with integration of OmniQuip’s Sky Trak and Lull telehandler lines, part of the August 2003 acquisition of Textron Inc’s OmniQuip unit. (Forkliftaction.com News #115 – nwid998)
“We only enjoyed a 15 percent commonality between suppliers of Omniquip and JLG’s telehandler products supply base,” said JLG chief executive Bill Lasky. “Therefore, we have struggled more with (integrating) the telehandler side than the aerial (work platform) side, which is very mature and (has) a much more reliable supply base.”