T H WHITE has acquired Falkirk-based Outreach Truck Ltd, the Palfinger distributor for Scotland, and with agreement from Palfinger the merged businesses will come together as the UK’s largest national lorry crane provider, trading as Palfinger UK from May 2018.
Palfinger UK will be the only independent European distributor with full national coverage and will be one of the largest distributors in Europe selling products directly to end users.
T H WHITE’s involvement with lorry cranes began in 1974 and the business grew dramatically in the 1990s when world-leading Austrian hydraulic crane manufacturer Palfinger made T H WHITE its official distributor for England and Wales. Outreach Truck Ltd has also worked closely with Palfinger since 1976, accumulating parallel experience and expertise north of the border. Outreach staff will now join the T H WHITE Lorry Cranes team in the new Palfinger UK operation.
Mark Rigby (above), director of T H WHITE’s Lorry Cranes business, believes the acquisition of Outreach is the perfect fit with T H WHITE: “For more than 40 years Outreach has offered hydraulic handling, lifting and access equipment, supplying and fitting the complete range of Palfinger cranes. As regards the Palfinger Epsilon range, T H WHITE has traditionally focused on construction and recycling cranes, while Outreach has a strong business base in forestry cranes. That’s a great example of how this ‘coming together’ will broaden the portfolio of the whole operation.
“Likewise, Outreach has worked closely with many Scottish local authorities to develop expertise in bespoke body-building. That is complemented by T H WHITE’s state-of-the-art body-building workshops in Devizes and Bradford where a vast variety of body styles and sizes are built and fitted to chassis, often in conjunction with cranes, pile drivers and other equipment.”
The creation of Palfinger UK means that the business now has operational bases in Devizes (Wiltshire), Bradford (Yorkshire) and Falkirk (Stirlingshire). Although trading as Palfinger UK, the business will firmly remain part of the T H WHITE Group.
“Now that we have a spread of business locations right across the British mainland we can work on further enhancing the high levels of customer service we are already known for,” adds Mark. “Added to that, we are always looking for ways to assist various sectors of the market with new, specialist products, as we did last year with the introduction of specific models designed for the needs of builders merchants. Expect to see more of that as we go forward.
“All in all, Palfinger UK looks like being quite a force!”
For more on Palfinger UK, what it means for you as a crane user, as well as details of a host of exciting new products, visit www.palfinger.co.uk.
