BRIDGEVIEW, Ill., -- Veri-Tek International, Corp. (AMEX:VCC) , a leading provider of engineered lifting solutions including boom truck cranes, rough terrain forklifts and special mission oriented vehicles, today announced that select models within the company's Manitex product line would join the Manitex Liftking and Noble product lines as part of The Cat Rental Stores Allied Vendor Program, in Europe, North and South America.
"The main goal of the Allied Vendor Program is to provide our customers with a uniform product offering at each of The Cat Rental Stores," said Jim Grasse, Allied Products Program Manager for Caterpillar Inc. "Each of the Allied Vendors has demonstrated a commitment to provide the highest overall value to our dealers and, most importantly, to Cat Rental Store customers. We welcome the Manitex product lines as a 2008 Allied Vendor."
"With our acquisition of the Noble forklift product line in July 2007, which was originally designed and marketed by Caterpillar, we acquired a product line that was already part of the Caterpillar Allied Vendor Program. Caterpillar's agreement to add Manitex into its European and North and South American Allied Vendor Program supports our strategy in several important ways. It provides us with a robust new distribution opportunity for select models of our Manitex products, which is a key synergy that we identified and hoped to achieve when we acquired Noble. While being a part of the program does not guarantee distribution throughout the global Cat Rental Stores, we are excited about the potential new business opportunities afforded by this agreement and hope our performance will allow us to expand our presence into the remaining regions covered by The Cat rental Stores in the future. We are confident that our Manitex products, along with our current Noble and Manitex Liftking products will continue to provide the value and quality that The Cat Rental Stores expect from their Allied Vendors," said Andrew Rooke, Veri-Tek's Chief Operating Officer.
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