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THE NAME GAME
Page 59
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Truck-mounted cranes
Much like Hoover or Portakabin, the Hiab name has come lobe used as a generic term for a particular type of product: in the case of the Finnish firm, truck-mounted cranes (TMCs). Many a time an operator has told us he fields two or three Hiabs, only for inspection to reveal that the machines bear the name of other TMC makers.
The Hiab TMC name is practically an industry byword not bad for a manufacturer with a 20% UK market share. "Hiab was the first to develop truck-mounted cranes, in the 1940s," says UK managing director Ism° Leppanen. "and serious competition started to appear in the 1970s." And that generic use of the name? "Obviously it's a huge advantage for us."
Hiab's UK base is in Ellesmere, Shropshire. It has four dealerships: in Glasgow; Northallerton, North Yorkshire; Wisbech, Cambridgeshire; and Neath, South Wales. Additionally, there is a network of 16 independent service dealers.
TMCs are worked hard, Leppanen says; busy models can last seven to eight years, although most operators tend to move them on after f ive or so years. The customer base, although varied, is dominated by builders' merchants. In Britain, Hiab's business is split 60/40 between TMC and Multilift.