Continental Equipment Co., the Komatsu dealer for north Texas, has consolidated its entire Utility Equipment Division into the Lewisville, TX, facility as of July 2004.
According to Mike Detzler, president of Continental Equipment, the company moved all of its assets into a common area for more efficient management.
“We have assigned Mike Logsdon to be the utility sales manager,” said Detzler. “Logsdon is well suited for the task having eight years of experience with other manufacturers dealing with small equipment.”
Logsdon coordinates all the utility salesmen in the Dallas / Ft. Worth area as well as product support capabilities for the utility line.
“The Utility Division or small line of equipment actually fits into all areas of the construction industry,” said Logsdon. “Some people think that since the equipment is called utility, it is used strictly for cleanup around large projects.”
The equipment ranges from 8.4 to 266 hp (6.3 to 198 kW), making it suitable for all types of jobs from site-prep and excavation to maintenance and clean-up around large projects. “There are actually few tasks these machines cannot do … just on a smaller scale,” said Logsdon.
According to the Komatsu Utility Product Guide, the equipment line includes backhoe loaders, crawler carriers, dozers, wheel loaders, excavators and skid steers.
All these units have the capabilities to adapt multiple attachments including augers, heavy-duty grapples, forks, trenchers, hydraulic breakers and plate compactors.
“We keep over 100 machines in our sales inventory to fulfill the needs of utility contractors, landscapers, concrete and site-prep contractors as well as job-site maintenance contractors,” Logsdon said.
According to Logsdon, approximately 70 percent of the utility equipment revenues are derived from sales and 30 percent is obtained from the 50-machine utility rental fleet. All utility equipment sales are staged from the Lewisville, TX, facility to ensure the equipment is prepped in the proper manner, Logsdon added.
According to Herb Corlew, utility service manager, Continental maintains a fully computerized parts inventory and dedicated service trucks for the utility line.
“In order to keep our mechanics fully abreast of the new technology and the highly sophisticated tooling for the machines, we have an on-going schedule with the factory for the latest in training,” said Corlew.
With the demand for the utility line of equipment, Continental determined to assign a specialize sale force for the metropolitan area of Dallas, Fort Worth and surrounding area.
“Marc Berry is responsible for Denton County, Aaron Reinmiller handles Dallas County, Shane Edmiston takes care of Tarrant County,” Logsdon said. “The balance of our territory that spreads from Tyler, Texas to Waco and nearly to El Paso is handled by the full line sales force.”
In order to help some contractors get into the business, Continental developed a special program to assist in acquiring all their equipment –– the “Get Into Business Program.”
According to Logsdon, Continental will put together a program that includes the machine, the haul truck and the trailer of choice for the contractor and finance the entire package. This allows for a consolidated finance package that typically carries a very good rate and mainly just one payment.
“We know there is a very large market for the utility line of equipment and we intend to do all that is necessary to make sure that the equipment is available to the industry,” Logsdon said.
For more information, visit www.thenewcontinental.com.
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