The Manitou Group, a world provider in rough-terrain handling, has started construction of a new factory dedicated to mobile elevating work platforms. Michel Denis, group president and CEO, and Jacqueline Himsworth, chair of the board of directors, laid the first stone in the presence of a number of elected representatives. This factory fits in with a global investment plan and confirms the group’s ambitions in this market.

Work on the site, located in the Zone du Petit Tesseau in Candé (Maine-et-Loire), France, has just begun, three kilometers from the first platform factory. The manufacturer, based in Ancenis, France, already represented by five production sites in the Grand-Ouest, further asserts its historical attachment to the region.

The new industrial facility will allow Manitou to respond to structural market growth in Europe and beyond, particularly in the United States, 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.”

With a surface area of 80,000 square meters and 18,000 square meters of industrial constructions, this €26 million 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.