CTE Trailers is exclusive importer for Meiller
At the end of May, Meiller-Kipper and CTE Trailers officially announced that the Meiller-Kipper products will be distributed in Romania by an exclusive importer, CTE Trailers. In addition to sales and covering the Romanian and Moldavian markets, CTE Trailers will take over also all the activities of superstructure assembly, repairs and maintenance for the Meiller products. About the importance of this step, but also about the current market situation we discussed with Dana Bejan, Managing Partner of CTE Trailers, but also with Johann Wimmer, General Manager Direct Sales/Service within F.X. Meiller Fahrzeug- und Maschinenfabrik GmbH&Co, present in Bucharest with the occasion of the official launch of the partnership.
Ziua Cargo: Is looking for new brands a general trend currently?
Dana Bejan: We don't look for new brands, but Meiller was an opportunity for us. As you know, we were representing Langendorf before and we parted with them amiably. Meiller proposed cooperation to us and, of course, being no. 1 worldwide, it was an offer that we couldn't decline. With Krone and Meiller, I believe that we can become shortly the leaders of the market, this being one of our goals.
How important is to be market's leader currently?
It helps a great deal to be the leader of the market. The profit margins are decreasing radically and the turnover and the volumes matter greatly when we are talking about survival. The prices on the market are very low, there are only a few customers who are able to invest and they are desired by everyone. In this context, our gain is almost zero, and the volumes of the sales matters a lot.
What is the market's situation currently?
Compared to 2009, we could notice an increase of the confidence in investments. We already have 100 units in production for this year. The market is cleaning up: the companies that don't have high debts or credits continue to develop. The sales are to bigger and bigger companies. The small and medium companies are suffocated by credits. We are transforming our activity in key account sales, where our profits are minimal. But the market is moving. During the last 2 years, the investments were stopped. There are companies that registered losses in 2009 but that can still finance their investments and want to develop further.
The metallic waste and garbage disposal sectors are moving very well, as well as the one of specialized applications. This is a market we trust greatly, because there are still fewer specialized companies that sell this kind of products and that offer technical counseling to the customers as we do.
I don't think there is still someone who wants to buy only to take advantage of the opportunity. The ones who are buying, no matter if it's a new or used equipment, they really need to use it.
What is the proportion between the new and the used vehicles demand on the market?
The small companies are looking for used vehicles and they want to pay for them without financing. The big companies are still buying new vehicles because they have contracts within they have to ensure a certain quality level.
Speaking of bizarre situations, where the new vehicles had lower prices than the used ones, the market is more stable lately. All those who sold with great loss because they needed liquidity disappeared or saved themselves, the stocks of 2008 with very cheap new vehicles are disappearing and in the next 6 months they will be gone completely. I believe that the 4th trimester of the year will bring important increases of sales for the new vehicles.
How do you sell a vehicle today?
You sell the vehicle by direct visit to the client, out there. You can't sell any longer from your office or by phone. The sales contracts are signed with difficulty, because the customers are looking for the best price-quality rapport and they are asking all the producers and dealers for an offer, to be able to get the right image of the price level. This is understandable. Each acquisition takes long time, sometimes even 2 months, because there is a continuous negotiation and the customer wants to be sure he is having the best price possible. The supplementary elements, like the service contracts or service packages, still matter less compared with the price of acquisition.
What are your expectations regarding Meiller?
Meiller is an excellent product, no. 1 from the point of view of the hydraulics and steel frame etc. We expect a very strong partnership, because it's a well known product in Romania, with a 7 years history on the market and a very high quality level, combined with our flexibility and financial strength and with different financing solutions that we can provide to our customers. We believe that we could bring the market back to the levels of 2006-2008. We believe that the construction equipments and vehicles will account high sales again in Romania, because the construction sector is the only hope of resuscitation of our country's economy. The infrastructure investments we've been talking the last 20 years will have to be made one day.
Do you have a target for Meiller for 2010?
We don't have a target as volumes for this year. We want to achieve a very good organizational level, to have a positive feedback from our customers, to visit all Meiller's clients and to optimally organize the activity for repairs, maintenance and spare parts.
The future belongs to the specialized vehicles
Johann Wimmer, General Manager Direct Sales/Service within F.X. Meiller Fahrzeug- und Maschinenfabrik GmbH&Co
Ziua Cargo: What was and still is the situation of Meiller lately?
Johann Wimmer: 2008 was the most successful year for Meiller in the last 10 years. At the end of 2008 and in 2009, we registered an important decrease of the demand and, subsequently, of the production, with more than 60%. On another hand, Meiller doesn't have serious problems. We don't work with banks, and we are financing our investments from our own cash-flow. We are working to develop a program of cost reduction, to stay competitive in the future. Also, we are reorganizing our European network. This year we opened a new facility in Russia, our own company that would be followed by an assembly facility, in the next 3 months.
Our national market, Germany, decreased only with 35%. Other countries, like Spain, are in a true critical situation. Last year, Romania had an almost critical situation too. On the other hand, the markets in North Africa are going very well. The problems in Europe depend on stock reduction and sales with great discounts. The customers don't know why we all decreased the prices and they are used with the current low prices. This means we will need time to increase them back in the future.
What are your plans for the future?
We can't establish a sales target for this year in Romania. It's up to the market's situation, to the demand and the needs. Currently, the market isn't yet stabilized. But we don't focus on prices, but on customers. In the future, we will go further with the internationalization of our operation. As you know, 2 years ago we had opened a production facility in Turkey. We have also one in Poland, we will start our production in Russia and we will develop further, we will explore the opportunities that we could have in Africa. Also, we are discussing the possibility to enter the Indian market. Meiller is concentrating more or less on Europe, including the Eastern region, the CIS countries, then Turkey, Middle East and North Africa.
What are the Meiller products that you think will be best sold?
The construction field has a great potential in Romania too. But the most important from my point of view is the management of the metallic waste, the special firefighting solutions, the ones for the airports, medical containers hook-lift applications etc. There are a lot of fields we can be present in. We also have products for the agricultural sector and we've just sold 20 units in this field.
Did you stop your plans because of the crisis?
We didn't stop our plans, but we went further and invested 7 million EUR in reconstruction of our factory in Munich and we also started the investment in Russia. We also developed new products, which we launched at Bauma, in April.
Raluca MIHAILESCU
raluca.mihailescu@ziuacargo.ro
Publicat in revista Ziua Cargo din June 2010
