Nicholas Moynihan, president and founder of Quality Fleet Service.
Quality Fleet Service, a full-service repair center located in South Hadley, Mass., specializes in the maintenance, repair and refurbishment of a wide variety of heavy construction equipment, on- and off-highway trucks, industrial and marine engines, and generator sets. The company was founded in 2005 by Nicholas Moynihan.
"At a very young age there were a couple of things that I knew for sure: I loved working on engines, vehicles or anything mechanical and that I wanted to be self-employed," Moynihan said.
After high school Moynihan attended vocational school and upon completion, he went to work for a local repair shop that focused on repairing older agricultural machines
The mechanical skills he needed came to him naturally.
"Based on my personal experience in learning the trade and in surrounding myself with a crew of technicians, these vocational skills are something you either have or you don't. If you have the aptitude, this kind of work comes easy and you thrive on it. I have tried to work with young people who have decided to take this path because it's a great opportunity but don't have the gift and it just doesn't work.
"In 2005, I was twenty years old when a good friend approached me about a struggling business that was available for sale. A woman and her husband owned a small truck repair and parts business. Her husband had passed away and she was looking to get out. We were able to work out an arrangement where I could purchase the company without a major outlay of cash. I was a one-man show and worked day and night to grow this business."
Today, the company has a significant staff of factory-trained technicians with access to a network of replacement parts and diagnostic software through relationships with the industry's leading OEM's.
Quality Fleet Service's 15,000-sq.-ft.-facility is fully equipped with modern tooling, overhead cranes and virtually every item needed to address the wide variety of challenges that its technicians face each day. However, today's market dictates that the majority of its work be done in the field. To accomplish this, Moynihan has put together a fleet of service vehicles that includes three lowbeds, one dump trailer, two tractor trailers, one rollback truck, 18 service trucks and six support vehicles.
"We have grown to understand that to our customers up time is absolutely critical. We do what we have to do to meet our customer's needs. Our people are prepared to work day and night and we use a system of runners, which at times will include myself, to locate a part and dispatch an individual to get it and return it to the site while a mechanic continues to work on the project, maximizing the efficiency of the repair."
Quality Fleet Service is a factory authorized dealer of the following engine manufacturers: Caterpillar, Scania, Isuzu diesel, Deutz, Kohler diesel, Perkins and Kubota. This means that Quality Fleet Service is factory certified to do warranty repairs on any of the aforementioned engines.
While Quality Fleet Service is not a Kubota equipment dealer, it is a Kubota engine authorized dealer.
"Nearly all diesel engine manufacturers make their engines available to manufacturers who produce products but do not manufacture their own power plants. For example, a company may manufacture pavers, however they do not manufacture their own engines. This company would then purchase diesel engines from Kubota to power the pavers. The paver manufacturer would then contract with an equipment dealer to sell his pavers. If that dealer does not sell Kubota equipment, he is not authorized to service Kubota engines. That's where our services come in.
"The majority of certain categories of heavy equipment such as crushing and screening plants, generator sets, pavers, etc. are powered by engines that are not produced by the manufacturer of the equipment. When those engines need warranty work, we get the call."
Over the last few years Quality Fleet Service has found itself in the unfortunate position of having to mediate between the manufacturer of the construction equipment and the manufacturer of the engines. Something goes wrong and the engine manufacturer and the equipment manufacturer point fingers at each other.
"At times I know exactly where the problem lies but because I only represent the engine manufacturer, I do not carry weight with the machine manufacturer."
Because of this quandary, Moynihan has wished to be in a position to sell product lines of equipment to the end user as the dealer of both the machine and the power plants. That opportunity finally presented itself with Hyundai Construction Equipment and Quality Fleet Service is now the official Hyundai dealer of western Massachusetts.
Quality Fleet Service's initial order has been delivered and its technicians have been fully trained in the service and support of the machines.
"We are very excited about our new relationship with Hyundai. They are exactly what we were looking for, an accepted world-wide brand that manufactures a superior product that meets the demanding standards of New England contractors," Moynihan said.
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