On July 17, Heavy Machines Inc. welcomed the Newton County Chamber of Commerce to officially cut the ribbon and commemorate opening its newest branch facility in Covington, Ga.
Hunter Hall, president of the Newton County Chamber of Commerce, briefly spoke to the crowd.
“On behalf of the mayor and board of commissioners of Covington, and the chamber board and all our ambassadors we stand ready to help support you in any way. Thank you, we’re really glad you’re here.”
“We’re happy to be here. The people in Covington and Newton County have been great to work with,” said Dick Kelly, general manager of Heavy Machines Inc. “I can’t say enough about the help we’ve received in setting up this new branch. We’re committed to the long term here and this is a great place to grow our business.”
Heavy Machines Inc. is a Memphis, Tenn., based distributor. When asked about locating a branch facility in the metro Atlanta area, Jay Nelson, company president and COO said the company was familiar with the area.
“We were already familiar with the Georgia marketplace through our operation in Pooler, Ga., and we felt like the time was right for us to expand our company. Atlanta was a good choice because of the economic recovery and opportunity. We were able to align with local people who are well connected to the community and to our industry, which gave us the confidence to go ahead and open this facility. We’re a ’peoplecentric’ company. When we have the right people in the right place it gives us the confidence to open branches like this. There was also some influence from the manufacturers as well.”
The Heavy Machines Inc. Covington, Ga., branch facility is an authorized distributor of Link-Belt excavators, Sakai soil compactors, Diamond Z grinders, FRD hydraulic hammers and Hammel shredders. The primary market area for this facility is the entire Atlanta market with strategically located sales representatives and technicians. With a seasoned, factory trained staff of technicians; this branch location is able to work on virtually any make of machine.
This is Heavy Machines Inc.’s eighth branch facility and is located at 10110 Roberts Way, Covington, Ga. The shop building is a 20,000 sq. ft. (1,858 sq m) structure with eight shop bays, a wash bay, a parts stocking area and parts sales counter. A separate 9,000 sq. ft. (836 sq m) structure serves as the company’s machine sales and administration offices and conference rooms. The buildings, equipment yard, parking areas and surroundings are situated on a 14-acre parcel of land.
Kelly said the company has plenty of room for expansion on this piece of property, and plenty of room to accommodate and service machines, which will come in handy as the company fully intends to actively pursue the used equipment market and will be very active in the rental business.
“Every employee of this facility is established in the community and in this industry,” said Nelson. “We’re able to draw on 44 years of history as Heavy Machines Inc. and continue to build the business with our people and not our buildings. We have a very good business plan — a very good business model which are both centered around plugging into the communities and bringing in local talent to run our facilities.
“We’re a service first company. We’ve built our business around taking care of equipment and customers. We feel that if we do a good job of doing that, our customers will have complete confidence in having us be a big part of their business,” said Nelson.
The corporate leadership staff at the company’s main office that led to the opening of this facility included Jay Nelson, Steve Northcross and Eric Hinshaw. Dick Kelly was brought into the fold as general manager of the Covington, Ga., branch and Wayne Bartlett was tapped as parts and service manager. Senior sales representatives recently added to the staff include Larry Welch in the West metro Atlanta area and Danny Clark for East metro.
“I wasn’t looking for a job,” said Kelly. “I was semi-retired and doing consultant work. I was approached by Heavy Machines and they talked me out of retirement. The more I got to know those folks, including Steve [Northcross] and Jay [Nelson], the more interested I got in joining them. I consider it an honor to be chosen by them to run the operation.”
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