Manitou Names New President for Rough Terrain Handling Division

Manitou Group, Ancenis, France, has named Eric Lambert as the new president of its Rough Terrain Handling division following the recent departure of Christian Caleca.

Lambert, 43, joins the telehandler manufacturer from Alstom Grid, where he worked since 2009 as managing director of its Aix-les-bains site, specializing in high-voltage gas isolated substations.

The Manitou Rough Terrain Handling division’s products sold in North America include Manitou brand telehandlers and vertical-masted forklifts.

Most of Lambert’s career has been with the Renault group, which he joined in 1994. Over the next 15 years, he worked in various areas of its business, including metal cutting, as innovation project leader, as a project leader in Romania, and as deputy director of the Douai factory as well as manufacturing coordinator for all Renault plants.

His education includes civil engineering and construction at the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, so construction equipment will not be entirely foreign to him.

Manitou’s Rough Terrain Handling division represents over 70 percent of the company’s revenues, and is mostly made up of telehandler sales. But it also includes aerial work platforms as well as rough-terrain mast-type fork trucks.

Manitou chief executive Jean-Christophe Giroux said: “Eric Lambert brings a fresh look, a manufacturing background and a personal leadership which together represents real assets for our operational recovery. I am convinced he will be for RTH, Manitou’s flagship, a powerful change agent to move away from the past and invent a better future.”

Lambert added: “I am very excited to join a proven market leader with still untapped growth potential. I am also eager to join a dynamic and ambitious leadership team, and to revisit RTH operational chain for a better support of our dealers and customers.”