Bobcat of Mobile, a division of Beard Equipment Co., recently opened a new facility on 5 acres adjacent to the Beard Equipment branch and equipment yard at 2480 East I-65 Service Road N. in Mobile, Ala.

The facility covers more than 26,000 sq. ft., with approximately 19,000 sq. ft. of shop space, 3,000 sq. ft. of parts storage area and 4,000 sq. ft. of office space.

“Our owner, Brad Beard has been the driving force behind this new facility and is always planning for future business,” said Jody Bacque, Bobcat division manager. “Our focus is for total support for the product, and to find the best way to serve our customer base.”

Four of Beard’s salesmen rank in the top 30 in North America, including Joe Ecker, David Habbard, Bradley Caro and Cheyenne Gibbs.

Josh Simms serves as the company’s inventory and sales coordinator for all five locations. Allen Hare is the rental coordinator, Ronnie Jones is service manager and Beth Fender is the finance manager for Bobcat operations.

To augment the expected sales growth out of this facility, Paul Haulard, a veteran parts manager with 15 years of experience was brought in to manage the parts department.

The company plans to grow its stock of Bobcat parts to more than $1 million in the very near future and is focused on increasing the parts staff to keep pace with its expected growth.

The Mobile branch employs more than 20 people. Its seasoned service staff, has become adept at working at a fast pace in the wake of the recent Gulf Coast hurricanes. A fleet of four service trucks are dispatched solely for servicing Bobcat and Rayco products.

The facility itself was set up in a fashion that provides more than ample space for large volume service work to be provided. A total of 11 bays, with entry doors of 20-by-18-ft. enable machines to be moved in and out with ease. The exterior portion of the shop area has a 20-ft. overhang that extends out from all of the service bay doors that provides a staging area for the next machine to be brought in for service.

Two 5-ton overhead cranes serve the lifting needs of the entire shop area and an overhead lube and air system are in place for convenience and speed of the shop personnel.

A conference room was incorporated into the office area for customer meetings and training sessions.

The specific focus when designing the facility was for the convenience of the customer. Whether it’s new, used, rental equipment or machines to be serviced, analysis of the flow of machines in and out of the facility was the top priority in overall design, Bacque said.

This facility is a full service branch that provides sales, service, rentals and parts for Bobcat machines, as well as Rayco brush chippers, stump grinders and compact crawler forestry mulchers.

A separate 5,000 sq. ft. warehouse facility was built behind the main facility for the purpose of warehousing bulk parts items, accessories, tracks and attachments

“Beard Equipment is hoping to make a statement with this new facility that we are committed to the growth of the product line and our customer base,” Bacque said. CEG

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