Aiming high: how Tadano’s M&A spree is spelling growth for its aerial platforms business

Tokyo-quoted Tadano has been traditionally well known for its crane products globally, and truck mounted aerial platforms in its home markets of Japan.

However, over the last couple of years, a series of acquisitions at home and abroad have been changing that.

These include a deal for Japanese crawler boom lifts specialist Nagano in late 2023 and the buyout of Japan-based IHI Transport Machinery, the crane and material transport subsidiary of the IHI Corporation, which is set to close around July this year.

Manitex acquisition

More significantly, they also include the acquisition of US-headquartered giant Manitex in January, which brought with it brands such as Italian-based subsidiaries - knuckle boom crane specialist PM, Valla pick and carry cranes and Oil & Steel spiders and truck mounts brands.

Now Tadano says it aims to capitalise on the international opportunities that these acquisitions offer by developing more truck-mounted aerial platforms aimed at overseas markets.

Dean Barley, president and CEO of Tadano America, Tadano Mantis and Manitex International. Photo: KHL

“The truck mounted space for us in Japan is very big. We do a really good job, and if you think about the synergies between the companies, I think we can expand our presence in that space,” Dean Barley, president and CEO of Tadano America, Tadano Mantis and Manitex International tells Access Briefing.

“We have a lot of truck mounted products in Japan that we don’t bring to the US. So, I think Manitex gives us a really good footprint in that market.”

“I think the combination of the two companies [Tadano and Manitex]- the technology, the product and the high quality that Tadano produces, gives us an opportunity to expand our footprint globally.”

Tadano’s aerial platform offering has a long way to go before it matches that of its crane revenues. In 2024 MEWP sales amounted to 8% of total sales. But Barley says that is about to change.

“That is where we see a lot of growth. A core piece of the acquisition was that we saw a business that Tadano does really well in Japan with the same opportunities in other markets that are obviously already offering these products.

Growing access platform offering

“We need to sell an awful lot of aerial platforms to make up for crawler cranes. But we are moving into areas that will allow our business to be less affected by the cyclical nature of markets.”

“The diversification of the products, in areas that we know really well, actually calms the cyclicality down for our company. For investors in Tadano it’s a more stable company with the diversified product portfolio that we have today.”

Tadano’s AS63HD

At Bauma Tadano introduced the new AS-63HD aerial work platform, developed in Japan and available exclusively in North America. This model is launched alongside a series of compact crawler models, originally developed by Nagano, which will be offered under the Tadano brand for the first time in both Europe and North America.

The 62ft 8in (19.1m) platform height AS-63HD features a 2,200lb (1,000kg) platform capacity and combines the outreach of a boom lift with the vertical lifting power of an RT scissor lift, says the company. It can take up to 10 occupants in the platform and has an automatic 4-motion control and a 360-degree continuous platform rotation.

“The AS-63HD is a completely new design developed solely by Tadano in Japan. As a crane company, we bring deep expertise in structural engineering, and that knowledge played a key role in shaping this platform. While the introduction aligns with our broader launch of compact crawler models originally developed by Nagano, the AS-63HD itself is 100% a Tadano product,” Barley says.

“We also know crawlers really well, and we have a lot of talent in our company with very solid aerial platform background. Now, all of a sudden, you’re seeing it go into the North American market.

“The same could be said for the truck mounts from Japan. If we thought there was an opportunity for that product in the US for sure we would look at it.”

Would Tadano step out of its core track and truck mounts and explore other areas of access such as scissor and boom lifts? Barley considers the question.

Number one or two in the markets served

“Never say never, but we have a lot going on right now. We’re really good on truck mounted aerial platform products in Japan. But we didn’t have those products and we didn’t have the locations to be really good at it in the rest of the world. And what we’ve done now is filled out that portfolio of products.

“Our track record is pretty easy to understand. We’re primarily number one or number two in the markets that we serve. There are a lot of companies that are in the general aerial platform space - I don’t want to be one of 200,000 products.

The company is even holding back on certain areas of the truck mount business where the competition is out of step with Tadano’s core philosophies, namely the vast 3.5 tonne gross vehicle weight (GVW) sector in Europe.

Joining in the conversation, Giovanni Tacconi, CEO & VP of Manitex International, who has a long association with Oil & Steel points out, “The 3.5 tonne area is a jungle today. For example, with emissions we don’t know what direction Europe is taking trucks in and which kind of fuel we are going to use.

“So, we will probably concentrate on the spiders and just hold steady on the truck side. The idea is not just to copy somebody, not just to add some products because somebody else has this product, but to focus on what we are doing and be good in doing it.”

At Bauma, Tadano officially announced the next step in the integration of the Manitex Group: unifying the Manitex-related brands under the Tadano name. PM, Oil & Steel, and Valla now appear as ‘Tadano PM,’ ‘Tadano Oil & Steel,’ and so on, preserving the original identity within the product naming.

“I think we can move faster in Europe than we can in the US today due to the complexity. But it is moving and it’s going to evolve,” Barley says. “I think as a company, structured the way Tadano is, we can do way more with Oil & Steel, Valla and the PM products than you have seen in the past.”

While there are differences across the products lines, there are also similarities which will help bring the company together in terms of production, processes and sales.

“We’re finding synergies with boom trucks, AWPs and bucket trucks, but we also recognise there’s expertise required in each of those industry sectors.

“But a lot of things are the same. A lot of the products have got cylinders, for example. A lot of the fabrication is the same and there are many synergies in structural engineering.”

Tadano’s acquisition of Manitex also brings with it ownership of US based manufacturing facilities in the shape of a factory in Richlands, Virginia, which produces teleboom crawler cranes. Barley says this is something which the company could well expand upon.

US manufacturing footprint

“Having a bigger manufacturing footprint in the US, gives us a lot more opportunity, and is obviously even more important now, just as we’re hearing about [President Donald Trump’s] tariffs, and everything else.”

“Unfortunately, a lot of the components that go into our products you could not get in the US if you tried, so, it’s going to take years to move further in that direction.

“I would say it’s about where we can provide the best production in the most efficient way that is in the right market for the customers, and with minimum waste, such as logistical and freight expense,” Barley adds.

“If that happens to be the US and the stars align, that’s where we will look for sure.”