INTERVIEW WITH CMC

CMC is a leading global specialist engineering and manufacturing company founded in 1998 that provides world-class spider lifts. Their strength lies in the CMC business model, and the people and values that underpin everything they do.

Headquartered in Bari, Italy and operating in the UK, USA, Canada, Germany, China, Australia, New Zealand, India and in many other countries, with a network of exclusive dealers fully trained and skilled to provide the right CMC spider lift to the right customer.

CMC employs around 150 engineers, professional managers, and skilled operatives around the world, in 2020 CMC made a turnover of €34m.

The company is one of the biggest suppliers of spider lifts in the USA and their figures show an increasing demand for their products.

Easy Engineering: A brief description of the company and its activities.

CMC: As we deliver world-class Spider Lift for our clients, it’s vital we continue to develop new ways of working safely and sustainably and protect the communities in which we work.

Our machines are optimized in terms of weight and performance, designed in partnership with the Polytechnic University of Bari, one of the best Engineering Academic Institutions in Europe.

We offer a wide range of machines on the market. Our fleet of spider lifts ranges from 13 to 41 meters of working height and each machine is manufactured in Italy, using top-quality materials made in Italy.

Safety and quality are at the core of our operation, proven by numerous annual tests, thousands of hours of engineering for each machine, quality controls on every single structural part, and several international certifications such as TÜV, ISO, CEE, and ANSI, just to name a few.

Every machine in our range is supplied with the following features:

  • Modern design;
  • High-quality steel;
  • Cutting-edge technology;
  • Dedicated customer service;
  • Fast spare parts delivery;
  • Safety standards in accordance with IPAF.

Every model of our range can be manufactured for specific needs:

  • Gasoline Engine;
  • Diesel Engine;
  • Eco Power Lithium Battery Pack;
  • Electric Pump 110V or 220V;
  • Hybrid Engine.

E.E: What are the main areas of activity of the company?

CMC: Our company it’s growing fast, day by day, year by year. Our focus is designing, manufacturing and assembling tracked spider lift platforms engineered on the precise needs of the end users.

We are “The Red Brand”, as the competition refers to us, and our distinction traits are what we are obsessed and focused on.

What we are obsessed with, as well from a product perspective, is investing our extra profit each quarter in R&D, because we strive to innovate.

Innovation for us is a key point, and we pursue it as a holistic process inside and outside our organization.

Another area of activity which means a lot for us, it’s being a green oriented company, so our effort is going in the direction of becoming a zero emissions company, a goal we think we can reach by 2030, a journey that involves our organization in full.

E.E: What’s the news for 2021 about new products?

CMC: We are working hard in introducing a new insulated platform and to complete our range with middle high platforms. But literally, at this stage, we can’t say more.

E.E: What are the ranges of products?

CMC: Well, our range of products goes from 13 to 41 meters. We can offer to the market a fleet of spiders for every need.

Our product line-up is: S13F, S15F, S18F, S15, S19E, S19N, S19HD, S22HD, S23, S25, S28, S32, S41.

We recently did organize them into 5 families, thanks to their similar features.

And it goes like this:

  • F-Series (Fully-Hydraulic): S13F, S15F, S18F;
  • LC-Series (Light and Compact): S15, S19E, S19N, S23 (double pantograph);
  • HD-Series (Heavy Duty): S19HD, S22HD (single pantograph and a telescopic boom);
  • DP-Series (Double Performance): S25, S28, S32 (double telescopic booms);
  • XL-Series (Extra Large): S41 (double telescopic booms + 6 extensions and jib).

E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?

CMC: Well, taking into account the 4 stages of a market life cycle which are taught in every business administration course, CMC now is at the second stage, in the growth stage. Even though our company exists from 22 years, the tracked lift market is still brand new and didn’t reach its maturity yet. Our efforts go in the direction of acquiring more market shares in Europe and in the Middle East, while in North America we are already a market leader, especially when it comes to the arb sector. But of course, there are more niches in which we want to enter, one is the insulated tracked mounted lift, which we mentioned above.

E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?

CMC: We are in the era of digital transformation. We don’t really have to think about trends, because this status-quo, changes it all. All the trends we may follow are inside the smartphones, social media, AR/IR, block chains, social media and content marketing. We need to understand where our customers are, and what they want, before even making any move. It is now one year and half that our marketing department has been empowered with new technologies and new platforms, in the pursuit to put CMC ahead of competitions and in the mind of our customers.

E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?

CMC: We would like to think that our most innovative products will be the next we will put on the market. But in the meanwhile, we were the first to introduce fully-hydraulic boom lifts, back in Bauma 2019, answering to the needs of the rental market. A choice that literally paid off. The market has responded to us very well and we dedicated in our plant a section fully committed to the F-Series machineries.

E.E: What estimations do you have for 2021?

CMC: With the pandemic still spreading we are confident we can at least repeat ourselves manufacturing the same number of units as we made in 2020. We need to take care of many aspects in order to achieve our midterm and long-term goals, but we are confident in our supply chain and most important, in our people.