Strategy of strong brands: Pfaff-silberblau Hebezeugfabrik is now Columbus McKinnon

The Pfaff-silberblau, ALLTEC Antriebstechnik and Yale brands will continue to exist in Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products GmbH and Columbus McKinnon Industrial Products GmbH

Kissing, April 4, 2011 – Since 2008, Pfaff-silberblau Hebezeugfabrik GmbH, Kissing (Germany), has been a part of the US-based Columbus McKinnon Corporation (CMCO), one of the world’s leading providers of conveyor and drive technology. Now, as of April 1, 2011, the Kissing-based company with its long tradition has taken on the name of its parent company. As of now, the business divisions relating to solution-oriented drive technology, stage technology, lifting and material handling equipment operate under the name of Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products GmbH. Mid-year, the subsidiary ALLTEC Antriebstechnik, Heilbronn (Germany), will also be absorbed into this company. In future, the part of the Pfaff-silberblau business dealing with standardized lifting and material handling equipment will be cooperating still more closely with its sister company Yale Industrial Products GmbH in Velbert (Germany), which will be known as of now by the name Columbus McKinnon Industrial Products GmbH. The new name does not arise any changes for customers. The competent personal contacts at the companies remain unchanged, as do the high quality and reliability of the products and their brands Pfaff-silberblau, ALLTEC Antriebstechnik and Yale. The change of name represents a stronger incorporation of Pfaff-silberblau, ALLTEC Antriebstechnik and Yale into Columbus McKinnon Corporation’s global strategy, focusing not only on these brands’ global presence in sales, but also on the creation of synergy effects from the group’s international network: Customers will benefit from individual, country-specific advice, still more quickly available service and above all from a continuous and busy sharing of experiences and transfer of knowledge within the group, which will directly influence the development of new products and individual solutions. “Under our new name, we will be able to continue pushing our global orientation and our strategy of strong brands”, commented Ronald Bartel, managing director of Pfaff-silberblau, who will now also head up Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products GmbH. “With our brands Pfaff-silberblau and ALLTEC Antriebstechnik, we will be focusing more closely than ever on our core competence, system solutions: in other words, the tailored development and ready-for-use provision of sophisticated lifting solutions for our customers worldwide.” Hans Greif, previously managing director of Yale Industrial Products and now of Columbus McKinnon Industrial Products GmbH, said: “Now as before, our clear focus is on the range of standardized lifting and material handling equipment from the brands Pfaff-silberblau and Yale. We will continue to consistently extend our product portfolio so we can offer our customers a comprehensive range of directly deployable devices for safe handling of heavy loads.” Employees in the administrative, development and production divisions of Columbus McKinnon in Germany, at the Velbert, Kissing and Heilbronn locations, will not be affected in any way by the change of name. Customers of Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products and Columbus McKinnon Industrial Products can get in touch with their usual contacts under the new company name at the same address, telephone and fax numbers as usual. The only things that will change are the email addresses, which will be adjusted to reflect the name change in the next few weeks.

About Columbus McKinnon and Pfaff-silberblau Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products GmbH, based in Kissing near Augsburg (Germany), is a part of the Columbus McKinnon Corporation (CMCO), based in Amherst (USA). Its brands Pfaff-silberblau and ALLTEC Antriebstechnik are among the technological leaders in the field of solution-oriented lifting and material handling equipment as well as drive technology and stage technology. Its sister company, Columbus McKinnon Industrial Products GmbH, based in Velbert (Germany), is featuring the brands Yale and Pfaff-silberblau and offers high-quality standardized lifting and material handling equipment for ergonomically appropriate and safe lifting, shifting, positioning and fixing of heavy loads. In Germany, Columbus McKinnon currently employs approximately 370 people; worldwide, the group has more than 2,600 employees at 55 locations and sites in 19 countries. You can find further information on Columbus McKinnon and its brands Pfaff-silberblau, ALLTEC Antriebstechnik and Yale at http://www.cmco.eu. ## IMPORTANT NOTE FOR EDITORS: Please change your information for the companies previously known as Pfaff-silberblau Hebezeugfabrik GmbH and Yale Industrial Products GmbH in your personal address databases and the databases of your internet portals. The new contact details are: Pfaff-silberblau Hebezeugfabrik GmbH becomes COLUMBUS McKINNON Engineered Products GmbH Am Silberpark 2-8 86438 Kissing (Germany) Email: info.kissing@cmco.eu Internet: www.cmco.eu/pfaff-silberblau Phone: +49 8233 2121 800 Fax: +49 8233 2121 805 Yale Industrial Products GmbH becomes COLUMBUS McKINNON Industrial Products GmbH Am Lindenkamp 31 42513 Velbert (Germany) Email: info.velbert@cmco.eu Internet: www.cmco.eu/yale Phone: +49 2051 / 600-0 Fax: +49 2051 / 600-127 MANY THANKS! ##