Dennis Hines: business seems to be improving

Dennis Hines learned about the forklift business from his father, and, through Quality Lift Trucks in Chula Vista, he is imparting his industry knowledge to two of his children.

His father, Guy Hines, moved from Boonville, Iowa in the Midwest and started in the forklift industry as a mechanic in 1952, working in the Los Angeles area at the principal location for RH Braun, a dealership for Clark Equipment Co. At that time, Clark was the heavyweight US producer of rugged forklifts with long-life expectancies.

"Subsequent to that, he took a position with RH Braun in San Diego and, eventually, was service manager for the company that became Charles Myers Industrial Trucks in the early 1960s," Dennis Hines recalls. "He was service manager for Charles Myers until his death from an accident in 1976."

Guy Hines found ways to introduce his son to the forklift business. That included having him sweep the shop floor at age 14.

"I started in the industry in 1970, working for Myers servicing equipment in the ship yards on Saturdays while still in high school as well as working as a mechanic's helper during the week in the last summer while still in high school," Dennis Hines says. "I became service manager for Myers in 1977 and resigned in 1978 for personal reasons without knowing whether I wanted to stay in the industry."

But clearly, he was attracted to the business.

"After about six weeks, I decided to start a service company under the current name and, in 1982, became a dealer for Komatsu (Ltd's forklift business unit)," he says. A few years later, He incorporated the business under the name of Network Industries Inc doing business as Quality Lift Trucks."

Subsequently, the dealership began representing additional forklift lines, branded as Doosan now and Nissan.

Quality Lift in its San Diego facility has 19 full-time employees including seven technicians.

Five more employees including two technicians are "based in a Tijuana facility that we rent in order to service our customers in Mexico," he says. Quality Lift's area of responsibility in Mexico includes the state of Baja California Norte although most work occurs in the border area of Tijuana.

Jim Turbyfill entered the forklift industry and joined Quality Lift Trucks in 1997, and he has served as sales manager since 2000. Earlier, Turbyfill spent 17 years on Saint Thomas in the US Virgin Islands territory.

The family involvement continues. One of Hines' sons , Chad, 29, has been the service manager for Quality Lift Trucks for five years and a daughter, Danielle, 27, has worked with the company for two years, currently as sales co-ordinator. "Additionally, I have a brother, Dan, who has worked with the company for approximately 18 years and a brother -in -law, Dale Malzhan, who has worked here for six years," Hines says.

"The building which we own in San Diego is approximately 25,000 square feet (2,250sqm)), of which about 40% is subleased and available for our future growth," he says.

Hines recognises the current difficulties for his geographic area of the materials handling industry vis-à-vis the economy.

"I only see the view of the industry from my area, and business has really been off for over two years now," he notes. "We haven't seen signs of the market improving yet in our area of principal responsibility. However, I am encouraged that business seems to be improving in most other parts of the country. I understand that the south west (US) has been one of the hardest hit areas in the country."