The Chinese brand impacting NZ’s EWP market

EWP specialist Elevated Access NZ Ltd has signed a new exclusive agreement to distribute Sinoboom products in New Zealand.

Elevated Access NZ initially stocked Sinoboom scissor lifts in 2014, but it had proved difficult to get substantial numbers of the machines into New Zealand. However Terry Tibbitts, national sales manager for Elevated Access says, “Customer feedback on how well the products are performing over time, with years of trouble-free use, made it clear that the time was right to formally bring the brand back into New Zealand and to forge an alliance between Elevated Access NZ and Sinoboom.”

Elevated Access is believed to be New Zealand’s biggest distributor of Skyjacks, and the Sinoboom partnership is a strategic move that will allow Elevated Access to offer additional benefits to local hire companies looking to add robust, reliable and affordable machines to their fleets.

“We are very excited about this new opportunity with Sinoboom as it will enable us to offer hire companies solid, reliable scissor lifts at an affordable price,” says Tibbitts. “Being able to expand their fleets gives the added bonus of helping our clients avoid the need to cross hire from a local competitor. This can often result in invoicing issues for hire companies, as well as the potential risk of losing their customer to a competitor.”

The Sinoboom range is constructed in China in a modern facility that employs over 500 people, applying high standards of quality control, with work undertaken by an experienced workforce.

“Many brands build to a price, rather than to a standard,” says Karen Williams, director of Elevated Access NZ. “With Sinoboom, it’s clear that their priority is excellence. Over the years, they have not only listened to our feedback but have actually changed their products in accordance with our suggestions. This commitment to continuous improvement has resulted in machines which are surpassing all our expectations.”

This has been borne out by the performance of Sinoboom EWP’s in the tough conditions of New Zealand’s climate, and the demanding requirements of hire companies.

“We have seen first-hand how well Sinoboom machines last, and their exceptional performance over the years,” says Terry Tibbitts. “Whereas clients might once have favoured products built elsewhere, the quality of these Chinese-made Sinobooms is undeniable.

“When Sinobooms were first introduced to New Zealand they were the first Chinese brand into the local market, but now the majority of access equipment brands manufacture and build the bulk of their machines in China, which means that Chinese made machines are now the norm rather than the exception. Of course, not all Chinese-made machines are created equal. Our customer feedback speaks for itself and we know that the Sinoboom brand is one of the best in the world.

“When we unpacked the very first shipment of the new machines, we were absolutely blown away with the improvements which have been made. The paintwork on them is beautiful. You can see that giving them three coats with the new Beckers paint makes a huge difference and means that the machines are going to stay looking nicer for longer – which is of real importance to our hire company customers. The welds are top notch, and the whole look and feel of the machines is just excellent.”

The official partnership with Sinoboom is a strategic decision that will play a role in the continued growth of Elevated Access NZ, which is one of New Zealand’s leading EWP suppliers.

“Putting more of our energy and focus into the sales and distribution of Sinoboom products is going to have obvious benefits to our clients, as a cheaper, more reliable machine results in higher profit for our customers, but it’s also a very important business decision for our company,” says Terry Tibbitts. “Sinoboom scissor lifts now pose a huge threat to other scissor lift brands out there and we’d rather be supplying them, than trying to sell against them. There are very exciting times ahead.”