CMCO partners with Pacific Hoists

Columbus Mckinnon (CMCO) and Pacific Hoists Pty Ltd have announced a new partnership in Australasia. Pacific Hoists will become the first strategic partner for CMCO in Australasia and only its third strategic partner in the world.

Pacific Hoists is a privately owned materials handling Australian family business founded in 1976 by Dennis Herbert and Ray Danckert to market the Hitachi range of electric chain hoists. Today, the company is a market leader in both the Australian and New Zealand lifting and materials handling markets.

Identifying that the Australasia region could be better served CMCO recognised that Pacific Hoists shared its values, commitment to leadership, passion for innovation and  long-term vision for success.

Pacific Hoists says, “Combining the global expertise, manufacturing excellence and innovation of Columbus McKinnon with the 44 years of local service, leading edge business systems and national distributor network of Pacific Hoists we have a partnership unmatched in our industry.”

Steve Sherwin, regional director for Columbus McKinnon, is excited about reaching an agreement with Pacific Hoists. He says, “Pacific Hoists is a company I first met over 20 years ago when working for another company. At that time, I was impressed with the quality of people and their attention to detail. In 2019 I was given responsibility for Columbus McKinnon’s sales in the APAC region and decided to make contact again.

“We had three meetings, all conducted over video conference, to discuss this exciting opportunity. The Pacific Hoists management team all attended the meetings and were knowledgeable about all aspects of lifting equipment and the market in general. The meetings progressed each time in a very constructive and friendly manner. At the end we agreed terms and sealed the partnership with a virtual handshake, which was a first for me”.

Pacific Hoists is now CMCO’s exclusive partner for the Yale brand of electric hoists and winches in Australia and New Zealand and will represent Columbus McKinnon in all aspects of service and support for the Yale range of products. A full-service product and systems offer will be provided supported by spare parts and technical service back-up for the Australian and New Zealand lifting industry.

Pacific Hoists will stock the full range of Yale hoists, winches, and spare parts and provide a full technical service programme delivering market leading technical support, training, custom builds incorporating remote controls and synchronous lifting systems tailored to meet customer’s needs.

A large shipment of Yale equipment is due to arrive at Pacific Hosts in November including the CPV series electric hoists, Mtrac electric winchs, ERGO360 lever blocks, YaleLift 360 chain blocks, and the YaleTrac cable pullers. “We like to give our customers a range of options when selecting equipment: good, better and best, “ says Christopher Golpashin, general manager of sales, marketing and customer service at Pacific Hoists. “The Yale hoists are of high specification at an attractive price point and we believe that they will be a major market disruptor when paired with the Pacific Hoists distribution channels.”

Pacific hoists is confident in its ability to support all its customers  – it already markets world-leading brands such as Hitachi, JD Neuhaus. Vital and Comeup, supported by an extensive range of its own products. It sells through a network of distributors throughout the region to applications including: mining, manufacturing, agriculture, food processing and construction

The company says its achievements are based on the commitment to supply quality equipment at a competitive price while striving to maintain and improve levels of service and customer satisfaction. Pacific Hoists’ accreditations include ISO 9001, AS 4801 and NATA and it has been a full member of LEEA (Lifting Equipment Engineers Association) since 2010.

The innovative culture, which attracted CMCO to Pacific Hoists has been running on full throttle this year despite the constraints that have resulted from COVID-19. Pacific Hoists says, “Our joint capabilities go well beyond that of our peers not just in our combined experience in the lifting industry but also in our commitment to improving our environment, supporting the societies in which we work and respecting our indigenous cultures which are the heritage of our countries.”

Pacific Hoists  has recently become a Carbon Neutral Company, with the ongoing aim to reduce its carbon output by 20% a year. It will also soon be launching an online platform, which will expediate products’ route to market, benefiting both end users and distributors by dramatically reducing the time of each transaction and bringing the ordering and customisation process of their products completely online “build, quote, order.”

Richard Crake, chairman and managing director of Pacific Hoists, says, “We are proud to be associated with Columbus McKinnon, to represent the Yale brand throughout Australasia and we are looking forward to a long-term strategic partnership focussed on delivering value to the lifting and materials handling market. Partnership is embedded in our values as a business and like Columbus McKinnon we are committed in everything we do to enhancing our customer’s experience whilst making a difference by minimising our impact on the environment and supporting local and indigenous societies in which we work.”