Konecranes focuses on safety, health
Konecranes recently announced it places safety and health as its highest core values. With over 80 years of experience in the overhead lifting business, Konecranes has built a culture of safety, believing the personal health and well being of every customer and employee is absolutely critical.

"I look at every one of our employees as if he or she was one of my family members," said Bob Trachsler, safety director for Konecranes. "I also know that doing our work safely and correctly helps the business bottom line."

Konecranes is a member of the National Safety Council and adheres to a well-respected code of ethics. Safety and health top the ethics list as the highest core values, leaving the safety improvement process to executive management. Konecranes places an emphasis on open safety communication, believes that safety is a shared responsibility, and that safety performance is an indication of organizational excellence.

Employees are encouraged to extend their safety efforts beyond the workplace and continually strive to improve the safety and health processes of the company. All employees are given the knowledge and skills necessary to safely perform their jobs.

Konecranes has received the Exxon Baytown Complex "Safety Achievement Award" five straight years, dating back to 2001. The National Safety Council and the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation have awarded Konecranes multiple awards for safety excellence in the past few years. Konecranes is committed to safety through its dedication to its employees and its clients.

IPAF signs members, new AWPT training centers to open
The International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) announced Admar Supply Company, Rochester, NY; Bil-Jax, Inc. Archbold, OH; Fraco Products, St. Mathias, Quebec, Canada; Midwest Aerials & Equipment, St. Louis; MS; NES Rentals, Chicago, IL and Northeast Work Platform Training, Boston, MA have become new members of IPAF, the parent organization of Aerial Work Platform Training, Inc (AWPT).

IPAF is the worldwide not-for-profit organization that exists to promote safe and effective use of powered access equipment. Members include manufacturers, distributors, equipment owners and rental companies. AWPT is the organization that administers IPAF’s North American training programs. Members of IPAF are eligible to open an AWPT accredited training center after meeting the accreditation criteria.

While both IPAF and AWPT are dedicated to providing comprehensive training in the safe use of aerial work platforms and mast climbing work platforms, neither organization performs the actual training. Training is done by those members of IPAF who have met stringent requirements and are certified as Authorized Training Centers.

New member NES has been approved as an AWPT Authorized Training Center for aerial work platforms and is planning on opening multiple training centers in key metropolitan areas; and new member Midwest Aerials & Equipment has applied to open an aerial work platform training center in St. Louis.

New members Fraco Products in St. Mathias, Quebec and Northeast Work Platform Training in Boston, along with current IPAF members Alimak Hek and Mastclimbers LLC, both of Atlanta, are opening or already have opened AWPT Authorized Training Centers for mast climbing work platforms. Other new training centers are also in the works.

AWPT training is tailored by experts to meet state and federal requirements for operator training and includes a mixture of theory, practice and testing to assure that the training is understood and can be applied. Graduates of the program receive a Powered Access Licensed-Registration (PAL) Card that is universally recognized and indicates that the recipient has been trained and is qualified to operate a specific piece of equipment.

IMT launches safe, certified used equipment initiative
Iowa Mold Tooling Co., Inc. (IMT) has established a certified used equipment initiative to meet customer demand for pre-owned equipment. IMT Certified Used Equipment is an extension of the IMT line of service vehicles that provides a level of certified used equipment not offered on the market today.

Each vehicle will be reconditioned to a defined set of criteria within a 90-point checklist. IMT will inspect every aspect of each vehicle, including overall appearance, cab interior, condition of under-hood and under-vehicle components, service body, crane, compressed air system and optional components.

“IMT equipment is known industry-wide for its durability and reliability, and it has always held its value very well,” says Mark Zipse, strategic accounts manager for IMT. “And demand for pre-owned service vehicles is particularly high right now.”

Customers who purchase IMT Certified Used Equipment and register their warranty online will receive a copy of the 90-point checklist, as well as a 6-month limited warranty for the IMT equipment and a one-month limited warranty on the chassis.

“Now that we’re putting our pre-owned equipment through the rigorous IMT Certified 90-point checklist, customers can rest assured that their premium used vehicle comes with the IMT stamp of the highest durability and reliability,” Zipse said.

IMT Certified Used Equipment will be sold through the extensive IMT distributor network, which consists of more than 80 distributors. And the distributor network will also participate by working with customers to supply IMT with used equipment for continued growth.

“We have so many customers who want to maximize the value of their money,” Zipse said, “and now we’ll not only be able to help them do that through premium IMT Certified vehicles, but we’ll also be able to help them realize the best replacement cycles on their current IMT products.”

Wells Fargo acquires CIT Construction
Wells Fargo & Company has completed the acquisition of CIT Construction, the U.S. construction lending business unit of CIT Group Inc. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

CIT Construction’s name will be Wells Fargo Construction, part of Wells Fargo Equipment Finance, Inc. Its main office remains in Tempe,AZ. Ron Riecks, the former president of CIT Construction, will head Wells Fargo Construction.

With more than $5 billion in managed receivables and 250-plus team members, Wells Fargo Construction provides commercial financing to the construction industry. It serves contractors who build and repair infrastructure, manufacturers of construction equipment, as well as distributors and dealers that sell and rent construction equipment nationwide.

Wells Fargo Equipment Finance, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., has a managed asset portfolio of $12.6 billion and serves more than 38,000 customers in the U.S. and Canada.

Safety Vision appoints new controller
Safety Vision, a provider of mobile digital video solutions announced that Mark Kerr has joined the company as controller. Kerr has had many challenging financial roles over the past 26 years bringing a wealth of financial experience and acumen to his new role at Safety Vision.

In this position, Kerr will oversee the accounting department and is responsible for the financial accounting and administrative functions. Prior to joining Safety Vision, Kerr used his extensive knowledge of accounting, internal controls and risk management to develop and implement the financial infrastructure for Capital 4, Inc. A graduate of the Arizona State University, Kerr served as chief financial officer, vice-president finance, and business development manager for several companies in the Houston area.

“We are excited to have Kerr join us here at Safety Vision,” said Bruce Smith, president of Safety Vision. “His experience managing financial information will help bring the financial infrastructure of Safety Vision to a level necessary to allow our company to continue to grow exponentially.”

Toyota Material Handling unveils fleet management program
Toyota Material Handling, U.S.A., Inc. (TMHU) announced July 2 the launch of the Toyota Fleet Solution program, its lift truck fleet management program. Designed to anticipate and meet customers’ lift truck needs, the Toyota Fleet Solution provides an enterprise-wide view of lift truck procurement, use and service.

“We want to provide our customers with the best possible fleet management program so that they can better run their businesses,” said Shankar Basu, president and CEO of TMHU. “The Toyota Fleet Solution program helps them accomplish that in a way that underscores the Toyota Way, with an emphasis on quality and a focus on the customer.”

The Toyota Fleet Solution is a data-driven, comprehensive approach to fleet management designed to create long-term partnerships, not just short-term gains—and to deliver better bottom-line business performance for Toyota’s customers. With its robust, SAP-driven Toyota Fleet Metrics system, the Toyota Fleet Solution goes beyond simply data reporting to actually analyzing customer’s fleet and making personalized recommendations to deliver a lean fleet, year after year.

“With the Toyota Fleet Solution, we are bringing the Toyota Way of doing business to an area of growing importance to customers – namely fleet management,” Basu said, “Business owners want and need to focus on their core business. With the Toyota Fleet Solution customers receive financing options, usage optimization and maintenance reports and more. These are factors that contribute heavily to an organization’s bottom line to help them grow their businesses.”

The Toyota Fleet Solution centers around five major components – fleet analysis, consolidated billing, fleet metrics system, a 24/7 toll-free call center and Toyota TotalFleet, a customizable program. Each is available individually or as part of the company’s flagship product, TotalFleet. The proprietary TotalFleet offers a new model of cutting-edge fleet management with an extensive menu of offerings plus customizable components including finance, maintenance and rental support.

By conducting fleet inventory, application, operation, and maintenance expense surveys with a customer, Toyota dealers can make fleet optimization recommendations, allowing customers to see where they can gain efficiencies and leverage existing ones. Some of these recommendations may include suggestions as to financing options, maintenance schedules, short-term rental choices and disposal of obsolete or underperforming lift trucks.

Utilizing its Toyota Fleet Metrics tracking and reporting functions, the Toyota Fleet Solution program provides its customers with the ability to track their fleet’s performance over time and establishing performance benchmarks. Unlike other lift truck fleet programs, the Toyota Fleet Solution provides customers with customer support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

DPI celebrates 10 years in battery charging business
Diversified Power International (DPI) of Piney Flats, TN, celebrated its tenth anniversary in June.

A manufacturer of battery chargers, the company was started in Bristol, TN, on June 21, 1997, by a couple of engineers looking to unleash their creative intelligence in the battery charger industry.

“We started literally from nothing in a 20-foot by 20-foot space,” said Jerry Fagan, DPI co-founder and president. “We had no employees or customers.”

By the end of their first year, DPI had “less than five active customers,” Fagan said, comparing that to the list of 300 the company now supports.

“We spent the first year developing what the product was going to be,” Fagan said. “Intelligent battery charging is basically looking at what happens when you’re charging the battery and making decisions about how to achieve optimum charge performance. You can’t do that with typical battery chargers.”

DPI’s technology involves manufacturing a charger with a microprocessor that contains sophisticated mathematical calculations or algorithms for determining each battery’s appropriate recharge requirement.

DPI’s revenues have managed to grow exponentially over the past decade, increasing roughly 60 percent year after year. The company grew its revenues by 95 percent in 2005 and by 52 percent in 2006.

Although DPI initially focused on producing chargers for the “motive power” industry, such as forklifts and golf carts, it soon moved into other areas – including the servicing of retail and industrial products, medical equipment, and military defense missiles and robotics.

At a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $612.1 billion, new construction starts in May climbed 8 percent from the previous month. A surge of activity by the non-building construction sector, both its public works and electric utility segments, boosted the dollar amount of total construction starts.
www.construction.com

Non-building construction in May soared 43 percent to $142.3 billion (annual rate).  Highway and bridge construction jumped 44 percent, with a huge push coming from the $1.4 billion start of the suspension span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.  Aside from this massive project, highway construction continued to be very strong in May, with the largest contracting volume being reported in California, New York, and Texas.
www.construction.com

Western New York saw a substantially lower decline in the value of future construction contracts in May than in recent months, and nonresidential projects increased by 57 percent, giving the region optimism of a renewed construction industry. The overall trend is still downward, however, with residential projects dropping 46 percent in May.
American City Journals/Buffalo

OSHA is making approximately $10.1 million available in new grants to nonprofit organizations for safety and health training and educational programs under the agency's Susan Harwood Training Grant program. Fourteen training topics were selected for this announcement, including excavation and trench hazards, combustible dust, and driver safety. Details about the grants and application process appear in the June 21 Federal Register.
OSHA