Tadano Outlines OneTadano Integration Strategy

Oct. 25, 2021 - In April 2021, Tadano Ltd. announced that all the group’s cranes would be unified under the Tadano brand name to bring the company closer to realizing its long-term goal of becoming No. 1 worldwide in the lifting equipment industry.

Since then, Tadano has been implementing this plan -- known as the OneTadano strategy – globally, while also focusing resources to facilitate stronger capabilities aimed at improving the experience of Tadano customers.

As part of the strategy, Tadano announced last year that it is bringing greater efficiencies to the entire value chain by improving business activities in North, Central, and South America, including Brazil, as well as the Caribbean, under a unified structure that would be called Pan-American Operations.

As part of this plan, commercial operations for the U.S. produced telescopic boom crawler crane lineup - sales, marketing, parts, service, training were moved to Tadano America Corporation, allowing Tadano Mantis Corporation to become a center of excellence focused on the design and production of telescopic boom crawler cranes.

While significant progress has already been made, this is just the beginning. Tadano continues
to benefit from the skills and resources gained through its acquisition of Demag to bring breakthrough innovations to the Tadano product line.

Under the harmonization, Tadano is bringing more than a dozen new crane models to market in the next few years. Customers will have the opportunity to take a look at a number of these products at bauma in October 2022 and ConExpo in March 2023.

The announcement of this brand unification comes with a promise to the Tadano customers: “Your passion. Our DNA.”

Tadano America Corporation President Ingo Schiller explains what is behind that promise: “Cranes are more than just a product we sell. They are the passion and lifeblood of our customers. We often hear from our customers and employees that cranes run in their veins – that cranes are inherently part of their DNA. For Tadano, every single lift that is performed in the field is just as important to us as it is to the customer carrying it out. No other manufacturer is as undividedly focused on lifting equipment as we are, and this goes both for our company as a whole and for each individual member of our team.”

Since its acquisition of Demag mobile cranes, Tadano has been able to rely on the unrivalled
know-how of its companies, which are incorporating their biggest strengths into each product.

There is also undeniable progress in this area: “Tadano is thrilled to be showcasing our first product with this combined DNA, a two-axle crane, in January. It will come equipped with the IC1-Plus control system, the standardized cab, and numerous features that will be found on all upcoming Tadano models,” says Schiller.

Just the Beginning

Against this backdrop, Tadano sees itself as being well positioned for the future, especially
since the company’s efforts in three essential areas will be intensified, as Schiller explains in an interview:

Question: What are these three areas specifically, Mr. Schiller?

Answer: It is the implementation of our overarching OneTadano strategy, along with an
obsessive focus on our products and services. We are at the beginning of a new and exciting
era at Tadano that is bringing the best of our companies together to make remarkable products
for our customers.

Best of Both Worlds

Question: What is the idea behind OneTadano, and how is the concept taking shape?

Answer: OneTadano is taking the best solutions from Tadano and Demag, and combining
them into joint new products. Our entire team works day-to-day to make sure our customers
are happy and to lead Tadano towards its goal of becoming No.1 worldwide in the lifting
equipment industry. We realized that in order to achieve both of these goals, we had to realign
our operations and restructure our organization to maximize the benefit for our customers. We
chose the term “OneTadano” for this transformation process internally to reflect what we strive
to bring to our customers: a single brand that combines the best innovations of two leading
lifting equipment companies.

One of the biggest changes we have made through our OneTadano strategy involves the
production of our AC cranes: In the future, the carriers will be made in our Lauf, Germany,
production facility -- which in years past focused on carrier development. The superstructures
and booms will be made at our facility in Zweibrücken, Germany. By distributing the main
components between these two centers of excellence, we will be able to eliminate duplicate
production, testing, and delivery structures. We refer to this process as OneProduction, and it
will ultimately result in shorter throughput times and, accordingly, shorter lead times.

Unparalleled Innovation

Question: This brings us to the next focus: products.

Answer: We’ve achieved quite a bit there. It’s well known that we made the promise of
launching 15 new and solidly innovative machines in the next few years. In this past alone, we
have launched three new GRs, including the industry-leading GR-1000XLL-4 and the
incredibly popular GR-1300XL; five new all-terrain cranes, including the AC 5.120-1, which has
a long wheelbase ideally suited for markets such as California and the western part of Canada;
and two telescopic boom crawler cranes, the GTC-1600 and GTC-2000. In addition, we’ve
rolled out the IC-1 Remote telematics system that enables customers to access relevant crane
data from fleet management headquarters or even a mobile phone.

Another focus of our innovation push is the development of technologies that are environmentally friendly. Based on the recommendations from the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), the Tadano Group has set for itself the clear goal of
reducing CO2 emissions from its business activities worldwide by 25% and from its products
by 35% by 2030, as well as becoming carbon neutral by 2050. This includes, for example, the
option of operating our vehicles with alternative fuels with reduced CO2 emissions, as well as
the E-Pack, which makes electric, zero-emission, low-noise crane operation possible. We’ll be
showcasing additional solutions in the area of environmental and climate protection at next
year’s bauma.

Fast and Efficient Service

Question: Sounds exciting. And that brings us to the third and last aspect in the form of service.

Answer: Service is a particularly important area for us. We can only be successful if we also
provide industry-leading service for our products. To ensure that we can bring the same level
of support to all of our customers, we equip our team with robust skills and knowledge covering
our entire product line. Since the Demag acquisition, we have been implementing rigorous
cross-training programs so that one service technician will be able to help with all concerns.

On the road ahead, our customers can expect even more from Tadano. We will be reinforcing our on-site customer service and offering new services such as maintenance packages, remote services, and online training courses. Another important item for us is our plan to comprehensively digitalize our customer service operations all the way from resource and assignment planning to billing.

Needless to say, integrating our companies in terms of service is also an important aspect that
customers will benefit from noticeably. Earlier this year, we expanded our after-hours
emergency support service so Tadano customers can receive urgent technician and/or parts
support outside of normal business hours. Our Call Center can now be reached via phone,
email, or through our new website. In terms of parts, we have consolidated our parts operations
into two central distribution centers in the Houston region and have increased our ability to
deliver parts orders to our customers within 24 hours.

I can promise you that we’ll be introducing a whole series of new innovations to the industry
by the next bauma in October 2022. In fact, we’re already looking forward to showing visitors
our new Tadano then.

Thank you very much, Mr. Schiller.