New man at the top
June 1st 2006

Charlotte Stonestreet spoke to Bill Pfleger, the new managing director of Yale Europe, about how he is bringing his experience from the US to the European market

Ask Bill Pfleger what first attracted him to the lift truck industry and, like many others in the business, he says that as a child growing up he never anticipated ending up working in the sector. Indeed, even after he graduated from Michigan State University in accounting and finance it was only when a neighbour in the lift truck business asked him to come on-board and assist him with a large acquisition that he even gave the industry a second thought.

Don't let this fool you into thinking that Pfleger is a stereotypical 'number cruncher' who would be at home in any sector though - this is a man who now has a wealth of experience as well as a huge enthusiasm for the industry.

Following the aforementioned acquisition Pfleger stayed on as CFO, a post he fulfiled for the next four years. The following four years he spent at the same dealership heading up the operations side of the business, developing in-depth knowledge of parts, service and rental.

With nine facilities, around 125 engineers and potentially 7000 industrial trucks within the area it covered, the operation was a sizeable one.

"That gave me great background in terms of the retail side of the business," says Pfleger. "I had responsibility for service, parts, etc., - the aftersales side of the business. It was also a great opportunity to interface with Yale as a manufacturer and a marketing company and to develop a better understanding of the whole industry."

Dealer development

When an opportunity arose at Yale Pfleger was keen to take on the challenge and spent the next eight years working primarily on dealer development. As well as recruiting new dealers by acquisition and merger, this involved expanding the businesses of existing dealers by addressing system related issues, improving service performance and working with them on marketing.

So, no shortage of experience here then! The question is though, how will this knowledge travel across the Atlantic now that Pfleger is managing director of Yale Europe?

"As in any business, there is a need to understand the market and the applications within that market - but when you cut right through it, talking to dealers and to customers, it is obvious that the basic business is pretty much the same in terms of what the issues and solutions are.

"Outside of some cultural issues, most customers are trying to improve something within their operation and are looking for a partner to help them identify a solution. My focus and the focus of my team is to really understand those areas the customer is trying to deal with and explain why our product is the best product to address those needs.

"And when all is said and done, it's the same process in the US because ultimately you have a number of customers that want to have a safer environment for employees to work in, increase productivity by improving the overall morale and operating performance of their employees, and, more often than not, improve the bottom line by using a lift truck as part of the overall solution."

In terms of differences between the US and the UK market, to Pfleger the most significant is the widespread use of long term rental contracts in the UK as a means of supply.

"This really affects the way the business operates, not only in terms of the customer expectations, but also on how a dealership has to be managed because long term rental is a different business process to a 'true' sale where the customer takes full responsibility for a piece of equipment.

"Long term rental business puts all the burden on the dealership and their ability to manage at a higher level, and to apply sophisticated management systems is a huge element of whether they are successful or not. And ultimately, the success of the dealers is also the success of the manufacturer, so I see this a great challenge."

Geographic market similarities and differences aside, to be successful on a global scale a company needs to have a comprehensive product range that customers can be sure they can rely on, so quality and dependability are always going to be priorities.

"When you talk to end users, whether their trucks are owned or rented, one thing almost all of them mention is uptime so quality and reliability are key issues.

"Even if the customer rents their equipment and isn't paying the bill for the service work, they are still paying for the fact that the truck isn't running at the performance level that they expect, that they need. How well a manufacturer can meet these needs is a question of how fast they can develop and implement technology that takes the equipment to the next level."

New products

Evidence of this attitude can be seen in the plethora of new product launches from Yale. Last year the company launched the first three models in the IC counterbalance Veracitor VX series, following a $140m investment and five-year a development programme by parent company NACCO Materials Handling. The 1 to 3.5t units are due to be joined by further models with capacities from 4 to 5.5t later this year.

There have also been leaps forward in the company's warehouse equipment range with the recent launch of a new range of man-up VNA trucks as well as AC Technology motorised pallet trucks, stackers and order pickers.

"Yale has a well balanced product range and I feel that we have the opportunity to be totally unique, by truly understanding customer needs better than any of our competition," says Pfleger. "We are doing more than ever before in terms of interfacing with our customers, both end users and dealers, to make sure we have a finger on the pulse of what is happening in the marketplace and trying to provide the kinds of solutions that will address those issues. And if I can make it easier for my team to provide what the customer really wants, the business will become even more successful."

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