Lift trucks: Doosan establishes new forklift business

Doosan has announced the formation of a new affiliate company, tentatively named Doosan Industrial Vehicle Co., Ltd.

The move effectively separates the forklift business from the construction, engines and machine tools operations and comes as the company looks to focus closely on recent successes in forklifts, including an increased market share, a growing distributor network and the expansion of the product range.

The existing forklift management teams, dealership and sales networks currently structured within Doosan Infracore (DI), will be absorbed by the new company on July 1, 2011.

Removing some of DI’s non-forklift related cost burdens and allowing the business greater independence is also expected to have a beneficial effect on the company’s bottom line, with profits put directly back into product research and development.

Managing director of the new company, Kun H Lee, said the move would also allow the business to react quickly to market requirements.

“As our business has matured, we believe that the challenges we have faced have
also changed,” Lee said. “And whilst we feel our approach is one of the most flexible and responsive around, we believe that by setting up a company focused solely on materials handling, we will be able to respond even quicker.”

With the new ownership structure, Doosan expects to provide more targeted investment into the new company, as well as increase efficiency and develop a stronger sense of purpose.

“We have a very successful business model that has made great gains in recent years,” said Lee. “Our dealer network and sales staff are second to none and we are very proud of the achievements we’ve made so far. This move is a testament to their hard work in growing the operation from a relatively minor business group within the Doosan Group to a global success.”

The new company will turnover approximately $600 million in sales and will concentrate on developing forklift and warehouse equipment products which not only offer great value and excellent productivity, but are also simple to operate and maintain.

More than 100 Doosan models are available from 1.3 to 5.0 tons, electric models and 1.5 to 18.0 tons for IC models.

Doosan Infracore, headquartered in South Korea, was ranked No. 12 on Modern’s annual Top 20 lift truck suppliers list, with $418 million in revenue in 2009.

Top 20 lift truck suppliers
The worldwide industrial lift truck industry spent the better part of 2009 in a rut. Sales were down 39%, but it appears the worst may be over