Another American crane company acquired

Corporate press releases

On Wednesday 16 October 2002, KCI Konecranes acquired the assets related to the replacement parts and service business of Crane Manufacturing & Service Corporation (CMS) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Founded in 1961, the Company has provided heavy duty process cranes to a wide variety of industrial users with a particular concentration on the aluminium and steel industries. CMS also supplies replacement parts, upgrades, and service for Cleveland and Northern Engineering branded cranes. In total CMS has an installed base of 15,000 operating cranes.

Crane production will be discontinued and only the service and spare parts business will continue with offices and a warehouse remaining in the Milwaukee area. Annual sales of replacement parts and service are currently $5,000,000. Strong additional sales is expected from this large customer base through modernisations and new cranes which will be produced by Konecranes America, Inc.

The ongoing business will be organised as part of Crane Pro Parts (KCI’s North American spare parts business). With this acquisition, Crane Pro Parts now provides their external customers with factory authorised parts for twelve brands of cranes and hoists.

"This acquisition marks yet another step in the ongoing consolidation of our industry", says Charles E. Vanarsdall, KCI Konecranes’ Group VP, who heads all of the Group’s American operations. "Konecranes is one of the early pioneers in crane service. Complementing our service offering with original parts will further strengthen our margins in this business."

KCI Konecranes, headquartered in Hyvinkää, Finland is a world leading Engineering Group specialising in advanced overhead lifting solutions and maintenance services. In 2001, Group sales totalled EUR 756 million with over 4400 employees in 34 countries all over the world.

For further information, please contact:

Charles E. Vanarsdall, Group Vice President, Konecranes Inc.
Tel. +1-937-328 5133

Teuvo Rintamäki, Chief Financial Officer, KCI Konecranes International Plc
Tel. +358-20 427 2040