Manitou Group has launched a new five-year business plan as it heads into 2021 and strives to recover from the pandemic-induced economic downturn.

The plan involves consolidating two of the company’s three divisions: material handling and access equipment (forklifts, telehandlers and aerial platforms) and compact equipment (skid steers, compact track loaders and articulated wheel loaders). The company’s Services & Solutions Division will remain separate.

The company hopes to boost performance through streamlined operations, such as developing modularity of product ranges and standardized components. Another tenet of the plan includes a focus on green initiatives, including low-emission electric and hydrogen products.

The New Horizons 2025 plan calls for increasing recurring operating profits to more than 8 percent by 2025. It also plans around 460 million euros ($557 million) in investments over the next five years.

For the nine-month period ending September 30, the company saw total sales declines of 28 percent when compared to the same period in 2019, according to its third-quarter financial report. The company reports fourth-quarter results January 28.

The largest drops were in the material handling and compact equipment divisions, which saw decreases of 33 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively.

The newly named and merged Products Division will be chaired by Elisabeth Ausimour, previous president of the material handling and access division. She was appointed to lead the material handling division last January and is based in France, where Manitou has its headquarters.

Rick Alton, the former president of the compact equipment division, left the Manitou Group in the fall, according to the company. He was appointed to the post in 2017 and was based out of the company’s North American headquarters in West Bend, Wisconsin.