We’ve done several things at Tiffin to drive growth.  New product development is key…we’ve expanded the markets we are able to serve.  We’ve sought out input from our customers on how we can better meet their needs.  We have also gathered competitive intelligence to better understand our strategic advantage.

Where we thought, along with a number of economists, that the construction market was bottoming in 2010, it now looks like it is bottoming in 2011.  New Housing starts in February hit an all time low.  Thankfully, they showed some improvement in March.  While further strengthening in the market is expected, it is anticipated to be slow in coming.

The current Poll on our website, asking about the outlook for 2011, shows the following results:

37% – more of the same

36% – slight improvement

14% – vast improvement

13% – worse than in 2010

We would like to get your insights and hear your thoughts on the markets.  Feel free to respond or take the Tiffin Parts Poll on our website to weigh in on what you expect 2011 will bring! 

The Forestry market has taken off in the past few months and it’s good to see.  The general sentiment I’m hearing is that this isn’t short lived and will be sustained.  Tiffin’s been committed to this market for well over a decade and we’re actively adding to our product line to meet our customers’ needs.  We are the leading aftermarket supplier for Prentice and Hydro-Ax replacement parts and are working to build on that line as well as all of the other brands we support like John Deere and Tigercat.

We’re also the leading aftermarket replacement parts supplier for SkyTrak and Lull telehandlers and are building our line to support JLG and Genie branded rough terrain fork lifts.  While utilization rates have remained depressed for this market, we are positioning Tiffin to be the leading supplier of aftermarket parts for all major brands of telehandlers by the end of 2010. 

While new forklift equipment sales continue to be off, sales of Industrial Engine replacement parts are up over 2009.  Equipment is being put back in service as market conditions slowly improve.  We’ll be making a major announcement later this month regarding an addition to our product line as the first in the market to offer parts for a popular engine that up to now has been prohibitive to rebuild. 

At Tiffin, we’re committed to helping our customers be successful.  Industry leading availability, high quality and personalized service set us apart.  Let us know what we can do for you!

They expressed what we have been hearing for the past year.  One manager commented that customers are cannibalizing equipment for parts rather than buying a part they need.  Another said that for their own equipment they are only “fixing to fail”, meaning that they only work on equipment when it breaks…they are not doing preventive maintenance.  On one visit I made, a customer called and leased a piece of equipment.  I commented that it was the kind of call you like to hear.  Yes, but the salesperson told me that they used to lease that piece of equipment for $450 per day and now they are only charging $250. 

At the Engine Parts Warehouse Distributors I called on, I didn’t see a lot of inventory.  WDs are ordering for customers as needed rather than stocking for when needed.

So what does this tell us?  Perhaps we have hit bottom.  We are seeing some activity and it has appeared to be picking up in the past few weeks.  There is pent up demand.  As customers look to put equipment back into service, they will need to replace parts taken from one piece of equipment for another. 

At  Tiffin Parts, we are doing a number of things to help our customers control costs to be more competitive and profitable:

-We stock the parts so you don’t have to…we have what you need when you need it

-We drop ship and will blind ship directly to your customers if requested

-Redesigning our pricing and freight policies to save you money

We want to hear from you…

-What are you seeing in the markets you serve?

-What more can we do to help you to be successful?

Let us know!

The general sentiment seems to be that once the weather clears that logging activity will be up in the Spring over last year since the mills are in dire need of wood.  Once their needs are met, there seems to be some sense that the price of wood will drop and the logging segment will fall back to last year’s levels.

It was surprising to hear that several dealers had sold all of their Skidders and were waiting on delivery of more.  It was not a surprise to see how little new inventory was sitting on the lots.  The most sales activity seems to be with 2 and 3 year old equipment.

If there were bright spots, it seemed to be with equipment that moves dirt, whether it be for road construction or mining.  In general, the feeling was that 2010 may be the same as or just slightly better than 2009 and that the market won’t show marked improvement until 2011.

We want to know…what are you seeing in the markets you serve???

I think what’s important is that we get a more focused view of the markets we serve. I just read the other day where many technology and ecommerce stocks had a great 2009. Certainly, the performance of those blue chips affects the perception of what’s happening in the broader market, but is it really a good indicator for the markets we serve? Likely not.

Our view is that the Construction and Agricultural Equipment markets have bottomed with Construction being off nearly 50% since 2006 and some segments off 80 to 90%. The important variable for our business is equipment utilization rates. We estimate that telehandlers for instance peaked at 90% in 2006 and 2007 and fell to 10% in 2009. Optimistically, we are looking for telehandler utilization levels to double in 2010. We think that forestry fared far better in 2009, but only because that segment dropped in prior years before the overall market. Agriculture held up fairly well in North America…people have to eat!

We would like to hear from you…what are you seeing in your markets?