By Seth Skydel

As Director of Commercial Operations at Terex Utilities, a manufacturer of bucket trucks and digger derricks and a subsidiary in the Environmental Solutions segment of Terex Corporation, Caywood heads up marketing, product management, sales operations, technical support and warranties.“ We serve a range of verticals, including investorowned utilities, municipals, coops, contractors, tree care and the rental market,” he said.“ Within those operations there are varying dynamics based on regions and customer objectives.

“ Our customers are risk adverse and conservative, so their business needs don’ t change fast. However, we still stay on top of current trends and needs when it comes to the applications of our equipment,” Caywood added.“ The development path for equipment and technologies also has to account for new regulations, policies, and economic and other factors.”

One clear trend in the utility market that Terex Utilities is addressing, according to Caywood, is growth in rental equipment needs.“ It’ s becoming a bigger part of many operations so we’ re seeing demand for insulated diggers derricks and bucket trucks increase,” he said.“ Rising energy needs, especially for data centers, and infrastructure projects for power lines and substations have driven that growth and will for the foreseeable future.“ With the exception of load growth, whether from population or industrialization such as data centers, utilities generally have a mature fleet primarily driven by replacement cycles,” Caywood continued.“ However, many expansion projects and sustainability initiatives are in a state of flux regarding the direction that projects are taking. Utilities are leveraging contractors that utilize rental equipment to meet changing needs without making a significant capital investment.

Driving Equipment Needs

“ Equipment demand has been impacted as well, in recent years and currently, by other factors,” Caywood also related.“ While the industry has mostly satisfied pentup demand caused by COVID, a new variable will be the effect that tariffs might have.”

“ A change for fleets today, and for manufacturers, has been the need to account for longer lead times,” Caywood continued.“ In the past, an order placed in January would be delivered in the same calendar year. Now the cycle is longer than a year in many cases, and especially for highly

Terex Utilities is also looking inward to find ways to offset higher costs and better serve customers.

Joe Caywood, director of commercial operations, Terex Utilities

configured equipment. It requires forward planning and rethinking the timeline for sourcing equipment.”

In some ways, Caywood noted, it’ s about chassis availability. At the same time, just in time manufacturing means equipment is built to match orders and there is not inventory on hand if a quick replacement or purchase is required. For companies like Terex Utilities, that means managing OEM chassis allocations, especially for customers requiring smaller volumes of equipment.

Not to be ignored either are costs, which are being impacted by the higher price anticipated for EPA 2027 emissions compliant engines and more recently surcharges that are kicking in as a result of tariffs.“ We have an advantage in that our U. S.-based supply chain can be a shock absorber against the costs that tariffs bring,” Caywood pointed out,“ but we’ re already seeing chassis surcharges becoming a component in truck pricing.”

Terex Utilities is also looking inward to find ways to offset higher costs and better serve customers. Internally, improvement possibilities in manufacturing operations are

22 l May-June 2025