Highway Equipment Company's Canton, Ohio, Branch Meets Challenges Head On

Tue August 16, 2022 - Midwest Edition #17
CEG

(L-R) are Brandon Diehl, shop mechanic; Josh Howard, field service technician; Bo Utley, field service technician; and Tim Diss, service manager. (Photo courtesy of Highway Equipment Company)

Highway Equipment Company’s Mike Ross has recently taken on responsibilities as the Canton branch parts manager.
(Photo courtesy of Highway Equipment Company)

Mike White, Highway Equipment branch manager of both the dealership’s Zelienople headquarters location and the Canton branch makes a point to be in Canton two days every week.
(Photo courtesy of Highway Equipment Company)

Gene Rogers, Canton sales
(Photo courtesy of Highway Equipment Company)

Mike Rayz, Canton sales
(Photo courtesy of Highway Equipment Company)

Jason Shankleton, Canton sales
(Photo courtesy of Highway Equipment Company)

Approaching 90 years in business, Highway Equipment Company can attribute its longevity to a willingness to adapt to and embrace changing market conditions. Over the course of its nearly nine decades, the company has learned to weather downturns — such as those experienced during the 2009 economic crisis — and maximize success during more prosperous times. The key is being aware of industry trends and positioning the company to address them.

A few years ago, Highway Equipment Company was fortunate enough to find itself at the epicenter of Pennsylvania's fracking boom. At the time, Thom Reynolds, Highway Equipment Company president and CEO, understood the impact natural gas drilling would have on the region and recognized the oil and gas segment as primarily a rental business.

Established in 1951, the dealership's rental division, Machinery Rental Company (MRC), provided ample experience in the rental business and the company was prepared to capitalize on opportunities with a ramped up rental fleet geared to the market.

Supply chain issues, inflation, worker shortages and rising fuel costs are factors currently behind changing business dynamics in the construction industry. Highway Equipment Company's Canton, Ohio, branch has met the challenges of evolving market conditions head on by actively initiating moves to enhance its value proposition for the dealership's customers in central and eastern Ohio.

While maintaining a focus on equipment sales, the company also has focused on shoring up its rental fleet. Backed by the dealership's seven locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia, the Canton branch continues to grow its fleet with both new and used machines, including equipment lines carried by its other branches. The dealership's lineup of rental equipment includes all sizes of equipment such as light towers, air compressors and attachments to heavy excavators and wheel loaders. The company is geared toward the needs of professional contractors as opposed to the weekend warrior. With the rising demand for parts and service resulting from extended lead times on new equipment, the branch has dedicated itself to meet the needs of its customers in those areas as well.

The Canton branch's fully stocked parts department has ready access to the dealership's full parts warehouse. Mike Ross, who previously served as branch coordinator is now parts manager at the Canton branch. In addition, the current service roster includes Brandon Diehl, shop mechanic, and Bo Utley and Josh Howard, field service technicians.

All service technicians have received extensive factory training, and the field technicians are MSHA certified and are prepared to work on all makes and models to meet customer needs.

"Our target is a 24-hour maximum response time," said Tim Diss, service manager. "Our technicians are on call on weekends and we're always ready to adjust our work schedules to accommodate the customer's timing requirements."

Mike White has recently been named branch manager of the Canton location. White came to Highway Equipment with extensive equipment and management experience gained from work ranging from operations manager, to branch manager and regional project manager in the oil & gas and water transfer industries.

The Canton Branch's sales representatives, Gene Rogers — covering Cleveland and surrounding communities; Mike Rayz — covering the Akron/Canton market; and Jason Shankleton — covering Cambridge, Columbus and the West Virginia panhandle, have a combined construction equipment experience of more than 60 years.

Opened seven years ago, Highway Equipment Company's Canton branch is a relatively recent entry in the Ohio market. As the authorized dealer providing sales, rentals and service of Anaconda crushers, screeners, scalpers and trommels; Bell trucks; Kato-CES compact construction equipment; New Holland skid-steers; Rammer hydraulic attachments; and Sakai compaction equipment, it has gained a strong reputation as a solution provider.

The dealership's reputation is largely the result of the company's three pillars business approach: