Alta Equipment Co acquired the assets of Northern Michigan Equipment Co in Traverse City from Jeff Dohm on 12 September. Terms were not disclosed.

The Traverse City site will operate as a dual branch for the Yale and Hyster forklift brands in addition to its current principal business as a Case Construction Equipment dealer. Case is a unit of Fiat Industrial SpA-controlled CNH Global NV.

Dohm had owned Northern Michigan Equipment since 1987 and continues under the Alta identity as branch manager in Traverse City.

"We'd had the territory, but not had a facility (in the region)," says Darrin Greenawalt, Alta Equipment vice president of sales and marketing. "We have serviced the (Traverse City) area from Alta facilities in Muskegon and Grand Rapids", 132 mi. (81 km) and 144 mi. (88 km) to the south, respectively.

The Traverse City site occupies eight acres with a 9,000 sqft. (836 sqm) building for sales and parts operations and an 8,000 sqft. (742 sqm) structure for service functions, Dohm says. "We greatly appreciate the loyalty of our customers over the years and hope to continue to grow those relationships for years to come."

Alta Equipment retained the business's eight employees.

In addition to Yale and Hyster, brands for the broad network of Wixom, Michigan-based Alta Equipment include Combilift and Manitou forklifts, Volvo construction equipment, Link-Belt cranes and Gomaco concrete pavers.

"We are proud of the service organisation we have built over the years," says Steve Greenawalt, Alta owner and CEO. "I learned early in my career that the key to growing our business was not just in sales but in providing superior service and faster response time.

"With the acquisition of Northern Michigan Equipment, we are committing to the northern Michigan market that we can provide the service and response time that they need to keep their businesses up and running."

Alta Equipment was founded in 1984, expanded into the construction industry in 2010 and has grown geographically from two locations in south-east Michigan to 16 locations employing more than 400 staff in Michigan, northern Indiana and north-eastern Illinois. Also, Alta provides warehouse solutions and services, offers a rental fleet of more than 1,400 units and has fleet maintenance, training and financing options.

"In the construction industry, product support is paramount," says Rob Chiles, president of Alta's construction equipment division. "With this new facility in Traverse City and our newly planned (Detroit) metro-west construction (equipment) headquarters in New Hudson, we are positioned to lead the industry in state-of-the-art servicing capabilities." Alta is building a flagship construction equipment branch in New Hudson, Michigan.