Genie Announces Plans to Build Chinese Manufacturing Facility

Enlarge Image Tim Ford, president of Terex AWP (right), at the signing ceremony of the Changzhou Terex manufacturing facility.

April 14, 2008 • With a large percentage of last year's sales coming from outside North America, Tim Ford, president of Terex AWP, Redmond, Wash., recognizes the need to provide Genie Industries' global customers locally-produced machines in order to expand service, shorten lead times, and grow the product range.

Ford explained to Lift and Access in February that Genie's global expansion plans include implementing four worldwide bases: United States; Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Russia; Latin America; and Asia-Pacific. Today, the company announces it has selected Changzhou, China, as the site of its new manufacturing plant in Asia.

Genie chose a business park in Changzhou, a few hours northwest of Shanghai, to build its production facility. The company will break ground in the second quarter of this year. In addition to Genie products, the park in Changzhou was chosen for its ability to be enlarged as part of a future Terex Corporation manufacturing campus.

Initial production will focus on preparing a line of Genie personnel lifts, but a full range of aerial work platform products is expected to be produced from this facility. “The addition of this new plant will also free up some of our current capacity to support customers in other regions of the world more effectively,” Ford said.

Since the company established a sales and distribution office in China 10 years ago, Genie's aerial work platforms has gained popularity in a number of industries, including shipyards, airports, hotels, and factories. “The Asia market in general, and the China market specifically, is learning about the importance of the lift product category,” Ford said. “Aerial work platforms are increasingly becoming more widely accepted as a safe option for people who work in high places.”