Construction starts on Manitou MEWP factory

The Manitou group has started construction of a new factory dedicated to MEWPs.

The factory fits in with the group’s global investment plan and confirms its ambitions in the access market. Work on the site, which is located in the Zone du Petit Tesseau in Candé, Maine-et-Loire, France, has begun just 3km from the first platform factory. Michel Denis, group president & CEO, and Jacqueline Himsworth, chair of the board of directors, laid the first stone in the presence of a number of local government representatives.

With a surface area of 80,000 square metres and 18,000 square metres of factory space, this €26M investment is part of a global plan to develop and modernize the industrial facilities on all of the French and Italian production sites. The work, executed in partnership with the Legendre Group, is due to be completed in the first quarter of 2021.

The manufacturer, based in Ancenis, already has five production sites in the Grand-Ouest region. This new industrial facility will allow the group to respond to market growth in Europe and beyond, particularly in the US, where the group began distributing its products at the end of 2018.

Sylvain André, director of the current Candé site and future director of the new site, said, “The aerial work platform market constitutes a significant lever for growth for the group, and is appealing to more and more rental companies, which account for the majority of our customers in this market.

“This will equip us with a modern factory dedicated to rough terrain platforms, while the existing site will focus on industrial platforms. We therefore keep our expertise in the same region.”