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INDUSTRIAL VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY SEPTEMBER 2022: PAGE 48



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SAUL WORDSWORTH, IVT INTERNATIONAL Leaner and greener MANITOU’S PRESIDENT AND
CEO MICHEL DENIS TALKS EXCLUSIVELY WITH iVT ABOUT ITS NEW LINEUP OF ELECTRIC
VEHICLES, THE COMPANY’S POSTPANDEMIC ROADMAP AND HIS OWN EXCITEMENT AT THE
UPCOMING BAUMA EXHIBITION Two years ago, Manitou’s Michel Denis took time out
from steering the OEM through the choppy waters of the pandemic to speak with ,
offering a unique insight into the work of a CEO during a global crisis. As
befits his character, Denis was very much hands on, visiting his main factory on
a weekly basis, even when staff numbers had dwindled from 1,000 to just 12, as
Manitou continued to manufacture urgent spare parts during the height of
Covid-19. “Many things have happened since then,” he says, speaking via Zoom
from the company HQ near Nantes in the northwest of France. “In terms of
business, we’ve been growing for the past two years, quite sharply in fact. We
have an growing order book but also an increasing range of products and
services, as we continue to develop Manitou’s portfolio of machines for
worldwide distribution.” For the past year however, like many other OEMs –
indeed industries – Manitou has faced operational difficulties in terms of
supply chain shortages, something that Denis characterises as, “quite TRADE FAIR
CENTER MESSE MUNICH, GERMANY, 2430 OCTOBER 2022 Booth: FS.908/1 painful from a
personal standpoint.” There aren’t many CEOs who care as much about his people,
and his business, as Denis. Roadmap for the future BELOW: Manitou’s newly
electrified MT625E compact telehandler will be launched commercially at Bauma
Munich, with production beginning at the end of the year Early in 2021, and in
light of the pandemic and its impact on all markets and players, Manitou
unveiled a new long-term roadmap. The strategy, entitled New Horizons 2025, was
an attempt to recalibrate the company’s global priorities in the wake of the
upheavals and changes created by the pandemic. “We designed a roadmap around
data, innovation and the environment,” says Denis. “It is driving all the
efforts we are making today in terms of investment for the long term future, in
R&D as well as product development.” New Horizons is built around four
intentions: to exceed customer expectations with value-added services; drive the
green transition for a sustainable business model; boost performance with
streamlined operations; and build the company’s success on one united team (see
, page 52). As part of this strategy, the company is investing heavily in its
infrastructure to expand capacity, including €70 million on its US facility, €80
million in France, plus a completely new plant for MEWBs (mobile elevating work
platforms). “With the success of our MEWBs product line, we decided to invest in
a new structure from scratch,” says Denis. “We bought land and built a new plant
that we inaugurated in March this year, a €30 million investment all told.
Alongside our US and French projects, we have 48 iVTInternational.com September
2022


ISSUE ARTICLES


INTERVIEW: MICHEL DENIS

SAUL WORDSWORTH

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ISSUE LIST


SEPTEMBER 2022


JUNE 2022


MARCH 2022


NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021


SEPTEMBER 2021


OFF-HIGHWAY ANNUAL 2022


JUNE 2021


MARCH 2021


NOVEMBER 2020


SEPTEMBER 2020


OFF-HIGHWAY ANNUAL 2021


JUNE 2020

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