Columbus McKinnon Corp., a manufacturer of material handling products, said Tuesday it has formed Columbus McKinnon Europe, expanding its existing Yale Europe business to include the sale of Columbus McKinnon products into European markets.
The company named Wolfgang Wegener as a Vice President of Columbus McKinnon and Managing Director of Columbus McKinnon Europe. Wegener was previously Operating Group Leader - Yale Europe since Columbus McKinnon's 1996 acquisition of Spreckels Industries, the predecessor company and former owner of Yale Industrial Products.
The company said about 13 percent of its trailing 12-month consolidated net sales of $571.3 million were generated by this operation.
"Given our strategic focus on global growth and new products, expanding our European operations is the logical next step to leverage Yale's very strong footprint there and the upcoming introductions of additional capacities of our new international-rated electric wire rope hoist line and other new products," said Columbus McKinnon President and Chief Executive Officer, Timothy T. Tevens. "This change, which integrates the Columbus McKinnon family of products under one sales entity in Europe, also supports our objective of expanding into emerging European markets which are undergoing rapid industrial development creating significant new demand for the kinds of products we manufacture."