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Focused on access: JLG’s Bill Lasky

June 12, 2007 |

Since coming on board JLG Industries in 1999, Bill Lasky has seen both the highs and lows of the construction machinery business. In 2001 through 2003 those lows got low indeed. “The U.S. recession became a depression in the access industry,” the chairman of the board, president and CEO of JLG says. “Our industry experienced staggering declines in market demand, resulting in many manufacturers exiting the market.”

But not JLG. The company focused on managing through the tough times. It continued to invest in what it calls its lifeblood – new product offerings – introducing its successful Workstation in the Sky concept in 2001.

In 2003, JLG bought OmniQuip, and with it the Lull, SkyTrak and military-design telehandler lines, complementing earlier acquisitions of two European-style telehandler lines. In early 2004 it acquired long-time rival Manlift, including the France-based Delta Manlift.

Although JLG took its punches – delaying some initiatives and watching its major rental customers constrict their buying – it has emerged holding the No. 1 position in telehandlers in North America and the No. 1 position in aerial lifts worldwide.
So what’s next for JLG? Read on.

Q: The construction equipment industry – and the aerial lift industry in particular – is coming out of some tough years. How do you view the next 12 months and why?

A: We think the next two years will be excellent in North America for two reasons. One, we’ve had a long stretch of limited infrastructure development in this country. Second, our rental company customers really held back their purchases and aged their rental fleets over the past three years and now they are experiencing the reality that an average fleet age of 48 months is too old.

This extended aging also goes against the rental companies’ foundation of value to their customers, where they offer new or newer reliable rental machines. Newer equipment also means a lower cost of ownership with less maintenance costs for rental companies and more dependable machines for the end-users. Rental companies have tested pushing their machine ages into the fifth year and they’ve found out it’s too much.

So it gives us a good opportunity when you look at what the rental companies need to do to refresh their fleets and bring the age of their fleets down. We have the stars lined up for our products – meaning the economy is in recovery, the used equipment market is strengthening and rental customers are having an easier time raising capital. We don’t think, however, this is another eight-year boom period. We should be in good shape for at least the next two to three years.