Everyone knows about the confusion that resulted following the catastrophic landfall of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
last year. Luckily for the distribution center of a large home improvement retail chain, Continental Lift Truck Corporation
(Jordan, MN) was able to provide a little bit of clarity.
The distribution center, located in Mount Vernon, Texas, had previously ordered 12 LP lift trucks with four-way
hydraulics and 48 x 48 carton clamp attachments from its normal distributor, the Crown Lift Trucks factory store in Grand Prairie, Texas. Once the hurricane hit, however, the trucks that were to fill out the DC order were shipped out to the
recovery zones. The customer’s national account rep called John Crouch, Crown rental and used manager at the Grand
Prairie store, but he did not have anything
in stock. Crouch checked with a
few other branches, but all available
equipment was sent to help with the
cleanup effort |
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Good thing Crouch had a pre-established
five-year relationship with Continental
Lift Truck, a wholesaler who
accepts trades for older Crown equipment
and provides some off-brand
equipment. This time, Continental really
came through, despite being located
almost 1,000 miles away.
Continental
keeps a fleet of about 150 short-term
rental trucks, with varying capacities
and specs. “We happened to have what
they needed with the attachments here
in stock. It’s not uncommon for us to
have what others may consider an
unusual order,” says Mike Sibulkin,
Continental’s vice president. “Our rental
fleet is full of specialty equipment that
other people don’t normally deal with.”
Continental Rental Coordinator Duc
Tran contacted the end-user to let them
know what was coming and when to expect it, so there were no surprises when the equipment was delivered. Within a
week, three truckloads of forklifts were shipped directly from Continental’s headquarters in Minnesota to the customer’s
distribution center in Texas. |
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The trucks came from a mixture of
manufacturers, including Toyota, Hyster
and Nissan. Each truck was fitted with a
48 in. x 48 in. carton clamp from Cascade
Corporation. “We lucked out to find
that many that late in the game with the
attachments,” Crouch says. Crown
mechanics serviced the account during
the four-month rental period, from September
2005 into January 2006, after
which they were sent back to Continental. The deal exceeded $75,000. “The package worked out great for everybody,” Crouch adds. “Continental helped us take
care of our customer to get them through the peak caused by the hurricane.” |
This article originally appeared in the Fourth Quarter, Fall 2006 issue of The MHEDA Journal ©
Data Key Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
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BE AWARE OF
THE MARKET
Although trips to the gas station are
expensive, not all distributors are
experiencing dramatic spikes in costs,
changes to their bottom line or price
increases for customers. However,
witnessing others in the industry
experience an increase in operating
costs due to the rising cost of fuel has
been enough for many to become
conscious of inevitable trickle-down
effects, causing slight changes in the
way some businesses function.
A wholesaler like Mike Sibulkin,
vice president of Continental Lift
Truck Corporation (Jordan, MN),
doesn’t have many service vehicles
on the road. Sibulkin has not been
affected very much by the increase in
fuel prices other than a few surcharges
on the materials he receives. “We have not implemented a surcharge
ourselves, but we are not running
20 or 30 service vans. If we
were, we probably would have a
charge,” Sibulkin says. |
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This article originally appeared in the Fourth Quarter, Fall 2006 issue of The MHEDA Journal ©
Data Key Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
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