Leading crane industry expert Klaus Meissner has joined the management team of the European association of abnormal road transport and mobile cranes (ESTA).
He will support the work of the organisation’s crane section as subject matter expert.
A graduate in mechanical engineering, he has worked for more than 30 years in the mobile crane industry. He led the Demag research and development team in Zweibrücken, Germany, and worked as director, product safety cranes responsible for all Terex Cranes products. He also spent time as head of research and development for Terex Peiner tower cranes.
Following the sale of the Zweibrücken cranes business to Tadano, he started his own company, consulting amongst others for Tadano Demag, which he represented within ESTA until recently.
As former president of the FEM product group for mobile cranes – part of the European Materials Handling Federation – he has worked closely with ESTA for many years on a range of technical and regulatory topics.
He said: “Sitting on the user’s side of the table, but with the experience from the manufacturer’s side, I will do my very best to support ESTA, bringing together all stakeholders on relevant aspects of design, manufacturing and use of mobile cranes.
“Only together we will be able to master the challenges of the coming years, from new machinery regulation to new materials to a more sustainable industry, not forgetting increasing load sizes, job site complexity and transport issues.
“An ageing workforce, together with the younger generations demanding a different work-life balance, is already leading to shortages in educated and experienced personnel. All this adds to the challenges, and we need to understand how to make our industry more visible and more attractive to bring in new talents.”
