The news that McDougall was to be re-appointed as Skyjack president was totally unexpected and sudden. Much had changed since he left the company at the end of 2009, when he was seconded overnight to head up Linamar’s Mexican powertrain operations.
Skyjack appointed Steve Shaughnessy in his place, having just quit as managing director of Loxam UK. Within 15 months Shaughnessy was replaced by Linamar’s Ken Meyers who was in the role for less than six months. He was replaced by Brad Boehler - whom McDougall had promoted to head of engineering during his time as president - who provided the much-needed stability to the role…. that is until the surprise McDougall announcement. Under Boehler the company had grown beyond all recognition becoming the leading scissor lift manufacturer, establishing itself in the global boom lift market and gaining a good foothold in the North American telehandler market.
McDougall first joined Skyjack from Linamar in 2008 taking over from Lloyd Spalding following his delayed retirement. “During the early part of the 2008 recession, activity in the access market was very slow and I spent the latter part of 2008 and 2009 exploring new markets to sell equipment,” says McDougall. “Because it was slow I asked Linamar if I could ‘pitch in’ on the automotive side. I did not think it would come to anything but the operations in Mexico that I was familiar with were starting to struggle as the automotive market picked up. I was asked to help and spent 18 months running four manufacturing plants there, and then slowly took over all the automotive plants in Canada, the USA and Mexico - 28 in all - but I always said that if the opportunity ever presented itself I would love to go back to Skyjack.”
This story is from the April/May 2020 edition of Cranes & Access.
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This story is from the April/May 2020 edition of Cranes & Access.
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